a walk in the park

Biking to Newcomb Lake

2011-08-28T11:59:00.002-04:00

Since I am up waiting for Hurricane Irene to hit...I decided to share my bike trip to Camp Santanoni and Newcomb Lake with who ever still hits up the ol' blog that hasn't been touched for over a year......

I took Friday off in order to enjoy some sunshine before the weekend washout. Hike or Bike was the question and Reagan quickly chose biking as the activity. Not being able to bear another warren county bike trail ride...I decided it was time to ride the woods road trail to Newcomb Lake and check out the refurbishing going on at the Great Camp Santanoni.

We took I-87 to exit 29 and the Blue Ridge Road over to Newcomb. About an hour trip...driving Dan's truck full of bikes. Oh yeah...Reagan and I had company. My nephew Kyle who has been on other trips with us and my niece Vivian who was psyched to be included. The kids amused themselves by making faces at other drivers and yelling foolishness out the windows. The parking area is not hard to locate as you drive through Newcomb on route 28n. You pass Lake Harris Campground, cross the Hudson and on your right there are very visible signs for the Santanoni Preserve. Follow the little gravel road that goes into the woods and immediately you are at the stone gate and parking areas. It is a very pretty park like setting until you see the sign in register and the start of the truck/horse trail. Many people were walking the road and several other bikers were getting ready as we pulled up. I expected gradual uphill but I didn't expect it to give me as much of a hard time as it did. That is what is nice about biking with a 6 year old in your group. My adorable niece asked during one of our breaks..."aunt corin are you going slow so that i can keep up with you?"....my reply: "no viv, I cant go any faster...we are equal bike riders". She seemed very pleased that she wasn't "holding me back". It wouldn't have mattered if I could have climbed those hills with ease....I was very happy to have her along. She is the middle child and very laid back and quiet. I guess you would categorize her as the "easiest" of my sister's three children. The youngest one is quite the entertainer and has a strong personality and Kyle who was biking with us is curious and extraordinarily interested animals; always has a strange fact to share with you and fancies himself quite the comedian. So....biking alongside vivian for a couple hours gave me the chance to converse with just her and see some traits of her personality that don't often come through when she is with her siblings. She is funny and sweet and not at all as shy as she sometimes appears to be. I really enjoyed the time with her.

At one point in the trip we passed state prison inmates doing trail work. I alerted the kids only because I didn't want them to say something goofy to them, not to scare them. They passed without issue and I thought it was logical that the state was using the inmates for such work. I slipped in a thank you to the last inmate I passed (because he was looking) even though they were supposed to turn and face the woods while we were near.

The kids stopped for a while at the first stone bridge we went over to play in the brook. Kyle found a frog and Reagan got stung by a honey bee. Vivian laughed as she splashed cold water on her face and hair. They remarked how clean the water looked. I tried to explain the high levels of iron that made the dirt in the brook so reddish-orange.

We continued and just when we thought we couldn't go anymore the gradual 4 mile uphill became a gradual one last mile downhill. It seemed like we were flying. Kyle and Reagan far ahead, Vivian and I tested our brakes and tried to remain in control. We were a little nervous about the loose rocks we were speeding over. Vivian laughed and wondered aloud "when did I get worried like aunt gwenny?" I smiled remembering my sister's description of vivian's other aunt cautiously hiking Giant Mountain and being nervous about Kyle climbing the bare rock.

The lake quickly came into view after we went over a couple more stone bridges and a wooden bridge. we passed a large group of campers coming back to their site from the tiny sandy beach area. There were also three men coming to shore in canoes who had been across the lake camping. A pair of work horses and a carriage met them to take them and their canoes back to their vehicles. This was an added treat for the kids who paused from wading into the water to pet the horses.

After about an hour of snacking on the shore of the beautiful lake with mountain views and few clouds in the violet blue sky...we decided to hop on the bikes and go the short distance to Camp Santanoni. A Great Camp that is now owned by the state and a national landmark. It is known for having been a summer getaway for the wealthiest of people escaping the city heat. It is still be refurbished but visitors are welcome to take a look throughout the buildings and sit for a while on its massive porches. One can only imagine what it would be like to stay there either now which would be amazing or in its hay day when it was considered "roughing it in style".

After spending about two and a half hours exploring the camp, enjoying the lake and checking out the designated tent sites we decided to start the trip back. The kids saw fish, frogs, big spiders and pointed out all kinds of mushrooms. On the way out of course we only had to do a mile of gradual and sometimes steep uphill before we enjoyed coasting the last 4 miles to the truck. Vivian actually had to stop a few times to let her tingling hands rest from using her hand brakes so much. People before us had built several cairns along the road. One in particular was on a huge boulder and was balancing in a neat way. Very grown up like, as we passed it, vivian suggested that we should have stopped to take a photo of it. She has a good eye for photography!

After 11 miles and 5 hours of playing in the adirondacks, we got the bikes loaded up and made our way to the convenience store in Pottersville where after several hikes and backpack trips, my father and I have chowed down pizza. We all ate a slice and continued home....where the kids jumped promptly in the pool to slog off and cool down. Then Vivian and Kerrigan (age 4) came home with us to spend the night. They ate popcorn and did photo shoots and Vivian stayed up way later than I thought a little girl who biked 11 miles would have ever been able....

On the Adirondack hiking forum some one's profile states..."It's not a map it's a to do list". I am glad biking this neck of the woods was on my to do list. It was a refreshing day up north.

Meanwhile....

2010-08-16T22:06:00.005-04:00

Not that I think you are all hanging on the edge of your seats waiting for an update from me but I found myself really looking forward to reading about a friend's hike of saddleback and basin mountains and that has prompted me to report the only "walk in the park" that I have done this season....

First, I need to do my Bike for Multiple Sclerosis justice. It also factors into part of the hiking story that will eventually follow. On July 11th I completed the 30 mile bike ride in just under 4 hours. My team (of 2) raised $790 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society...some donations coming from followers of this blog. Thank You. In the two months preceding the bike ride, I did a lot of different training sessions. There were many 8 mile after work bike rides and one 22 mile ride. I went to the YMCA once and did 4 miles on the virtual bike which made me feel like I was inside a video game, also made me kinda dizzy and totally kicked my butt. I walked while my daughter was at dance class, I ran hills at 11:00pm, I ran on the treadmill for record lengths of time, lifted weights and actually enjoyed the elliptical machine at a hotel in Connecticut on one of the many baseball tournament weekends. I built my endurance up so much that I had to work hard at becoming winded. Yes, I am bragging because I have never been "in training" and so focused. It felt great. I was able to fit all of this into the busy baseball schedule that we keep each summer. But to this point there had been no high peaking going on!!!

On July 5th I decided that it didn't matter how hot it was going to be, a hike was necessary for the Monday holiday. I figured it would be good cross training for the bike ride and that I would have five days for my muscles to recover before the ride. My father and I decided we would do at least one if not two mountains from the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. We started out hoping to hike Upper and Lower Wolf Jaw. We confused the trails that peel off from the Lake Road and found ourselves at the start of the trail to rainbow falls and further west, closer to Gothics and Armstrong. Feeling good and hoping to knock off some peaks we nonchalantly decided that it would be possible to hike Gothics, Armstrong and Upper Wolfjaw! We spent several minutes at the rainbow falls and filled up our water bottles. The Beaver Meadow Brook trail alternated between easy level climbing to quite steep. We stopped often, drank enough water and at one stopping point I ate an entire cliff bar. I usually nibble on one bar for the entire climb. During my training for the bike event I consulted with my friend who is a personal trainer on the differences in my eating habits and strange cravings I had been having. She assured me this was normal and that my body was calling for extra food and at a different rate; hence the science of metabolism. Long story not very short....We were minutes from reaching the junction that would have taken us rather quickly over to Gothics. We stopped at a nice lookout point for a rest....I had recognized that I was hungry but was trying to wait for the summit of Gothics to eat. Suddenly my empty stomach told it's stubborn brain to GET SOMETHING TO EAT. I bent over to grab beef jerky from my pack and got very dizzy. I panicked immediately and sat down to try to stop the spinning. My father calmly told me to breath and got me a Gatorade from his pack. We never carry Gatorade and I have to say that I believe it was my saviour. I guzzled the Gatorade which obviously got sugar and other necessary nutrients into me quick...all the while I got a taste of the irrational thoughts that fill a person's head during a full blown panic attack. I pictured me having to be rescued by helicopter or worse yet passing out and dying right there below Gothics and Armstrong. This had never happened to me before and I was glad when the worst case scenario thoughts left my head. We sat for a little longer and I pushed myself to eat peanut butter and jelly. I guess the combination of heat, changes in my metabolism and just being female triggered a quick drop in blood sugar. As we moved on and reached the sign that said .5 to Gothics, I told my father that I thought it best we skip Gothics and head to the mountain that would get us closer to the car not further from it. Of course he agreed and Armstrong was a mile ahead. I felt OK, but nervous about that kind of spell happening again. I forced the trail mix at regular intervals rather than waiting for hunger. We made it to the summit of Armstrong after negotiating a few ladders on open rock with awesome views of the Gothics slides. The view from Armstrong was breathtaking. It was hot but breezy and my father and I both laid our heads on our packs and rested for nearly an hour. We jumped up and got on the trail after coming back to the reality that it was almost 3:00. Upper Wolf Jaw wasn't far off but the trail consisted of straight down scrambling that required lowering of oneself down the rock by holding on to tree branches. Just after the summit of UWJ, we came across two young men with little experience in the high peaks but one made reference to the other being an eagle scout. Their water filter had broke, they had one bottle of water between them and they were trying to make it to haystack. They were standing over a mud puddle asking to use our filter. All I could think was...you want to use MY filter in that muck? But we politely pulled it out and attempted to filter mud for them. One pump of the filter and it was obvious that it would not produce drinkable water for them. They opted to follow us to an actual water source and discussed changing their plans. At this point I offered to lend them my filter to keep them from having to cut their trip short. They were surprised at my trust to let them ship it to me when they got back home. Ultimately they decided to go back to the ranger post and fill up with water, declining my offer. We parted before coming to a water source with us heading finally down the wedge brook trail toward the lake road. Wedge Brook is a soft trail that levels out just in the nick of time. I haven't learned learned from previous hikes to start out with moleskin on my heels as a preventive measure so the blisters from this trip were epic! (I had to squeeze my feet into my sneakers for the bike ride). We have decided to either carry Gatorade or packets of carbs/electrolyte energy. I had "honeyshots" in my pack for the bike ride that weekend and it provided much needed comfort as I was still scared of having a blood sugar emergency. Back at the car after twelve interesting hours.... Armstrong and Upper Wolf Jaw bring us to 25 out of 46.

A New Challenge

2010-05-09T19:07:00.007-04:00

Friday was the 3rd anniversary of the passing of my friend Andrew's father. He had Multiple Sclerosis. I asked my friend if he would like to hike with me that day knowing that something outside and physical might be helpful in facing the stress of "the day". He quickly responded that he didn't want to hike but that he did want to bike. After his father died, he biked the 15 mile round trip bike trail to Lake George almost on a daily basis. I wasn't sure if he was including me until he asked if I had a bike. I said..."yeah, I could get a bike", as I thoroughly questioned to myself whether I could just hop on one and do any big stretch of a ride. I was excited though. Partly because I knew it was going to be mostly sunny and 70 degrees and I had comp time to take from the previous weeks overtime that I had worked, but mostly because I don't take for granted being able to be with someone during their personal moments. Doing something positive to mark the anniversary of a death is also about celebrating that person's life and I was real happy to be included. Andrew also asked another friend to come along. I only knew his father for about 3 years before he passed so he and I have only a small set of "remember when" stories. The other friend grew up around Andrew's father and they spoke easily about Jim and their joint memories of the good times....exactly the way I had envisioned the day being spent. During the ride, which I must say I kept up with these two much younger people very well, my friend proposed that we do the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Bike Ride. Ironically, last year the bikers from the event went right past my house. The bikers I remember were all very professional looking and had just ridden up and down hills that I could not possibly get in shape to do in only two months time....but still, I say, "yeah, I would be up for that"....what??? I told Andrew that I would look up all the details and we could go from there hoping that there was an easier route than the one past my house. Friday's actual ride was 15 miles round trip and with me slowing us up a bit it took 3 hours. But it was actually easier than a 7 mile hike. I had some renewed faith in my capabilities and I was getting excited about having a new goal of participating in a biking event. Especially one with such personal significance. Before I even got home I received a text message telling me that we ARE doing the MS ride!!!! So, I am officially in training. I found out that the ride is July 10th and although there is a 10 mile ride, we are going to sign up for the 30 mile route (in yellow below). It does not go by my house (phew) and although it will be a huge undertaking for me, I believe it is something I can do. I am going to be asking for pledges because in order to participate there is a hefty per rider minimum donation. In the course of the 3 years I knew my friend's father, I watched him deteriorate from being able to walk with a cane to a walker to a wheelchair and at the end he was beginning to lose control over his arms. He paid exorbitantly for medical expenses both out of pocket and for his several health insurance riders that were additional to his plan that he kept from his employment as a Certified Nurse Anesthetist. Most helpful is that approximately half of the funds raised by the event are used to directly help people living with MS. Send me an email if you would like to receive information on how to donate..... and if I already correspond with you electronically watch for the details that will show up in your inbox soon. Whether it's hiking, biking or just walking....we should not take our mobility for granted.

new comment

2010-05-02T19:28:00.004-04:00

During a check of my email, I received notification of a blog comment. I was real surprised since I have been neglecting my blog for quite some time. It was a short comment from a person stating that they were doing research on blog writing and had spent quite a bit of time perusing mine. Commenter ended by saying keep providing useful information. Hmm....useful huh? I hadn't quite looked at it that way in a while. So what have I been up to other than blogging? Facebook seems to have taken over as the quicker way of informing people "what up"....but I do have an interesting story about sharing useful information. We hosted college baseball players during the summer for a few years. It was a huge commitment for our family both financially and personally; having given up the privacy of our own home to share it with 18-21 year old ball players who were loud, hungry, dirty (needing a lot of showers) and in one case pretty disrespectful. But we did it out of love for the game of baseball and the exposure it gave our son to how very hard you must work at your sport to play at the next level....COLLEGE. Greg is a freshman this year on the Varsity team. He is on a team that has two wins and ten losses and he is one of the two pitchers they look to for the starts. He was the winning pitcher for the teams only two wins. It has been a struggle to keep motivated under the circumstances. Positive notes are that Greg is being coached by his grandfather and another 25 year veteran coach...the only two people in the area besides his father that I would entrust to further his baseball talent. Greg is not a morning person, kinda like his mother, and so he has failed to see the necessity of getting out of bed before school for 6:30am hitting....besides only 3 kids on the team ever show up. We have tried to leave it up to Greg to have the self discipline to go...he functions better when things are his idea anyway (don't we all). Needless to say he makes it there about 2 out of 4 mornings that the extra hitting is offered. This is where the big payoff has come from hosting those college boys. My father made a comment the other day that Greg should ask Nate how many early hitting practices he skipped. Nate Recknagel was a ballplayer at the University of Michigan when he stayed at our house. He was a great house guest and spent a lot of time sharing his knowledge with Greg while he was here. We made a trip to Michigan the following year to see him play in the Big Ten League and watched the computer as he was drafted into Professional Baseball. We've kept in touch and his mom is one of my facebook friends...you know the mom is always the quickest route to info on where he is and what team he is currently playing for...and she still gives updates on his latest home run count. I sent Nate a quick message asking if he could find the time to do so, could he drop a line to Greg with some motivation for his personal growth during a year where the team is rebuilding. Part of me thought he might post a comment on Greg's profile about keeping his head up and continuing to work hard...part of me thought he might just be way too busy to write anything personalized to Greg's situation...On the contrary, he took the time to write a very genuine message with plenty of motivation but extremely realistic. He said he was taught that you get back what you put into something and he has never seen anyone get anywhere in baseball without A LOT of hard work. He told him if he is not going to morning hitting at least three times per week then he shouldn't be going at all because he is wasting his time. Nate told Greg that if he swings the bat 400 times he is not done....swing it another 400 times to ensure that his muscles remember the motion. What he sent is priceless to us as parents of a boy who has dreams of being recruited by a big deal baseball school and needs to be reminded how much work that really takes. For Greg....not impressed. It was just Nate talking to him the same as he did before he made it to the pros. I hope he thinks about that message and puts it to good use. Nate wants Reagan to write to him too and let him know what she has been doing. It was a great reminder of why we took those guys from Michigan into our home on a whim four years ago. I knew packing all those sandwiches and scrambling lots of eggs before games for those guys would come in handy someday....

5 years

2010-03-05T23:57:00.004-05:00

My job always seems to bring me into close quarters with people who are suffering with loss. Some are fresh losses and some are longstanding unresolved grief issues. For someone who has real trouble holding emotion in check this has been a challenge. In the span of three weeks two people I work with have tragically lost a child. THEIR CHILD....and at the same time are trying to remain sober and mentally healthy as well as in compliance during the most difficult time they might ever face. I am humbled on a daily basis, but especially on the days this past month that my people entrusted me with the details of their most raw and private event. Just as a firefighter runs toward a burning building....even though I know I don't do death and sadness well...I feel a real urge to reach out and offer a neutral and safe place for their expressions of feeling. After all...I know how hard it is to say goodbye. And I cannot believe it has been five years. I never tell people to give it time.

This helps..........

Olympic Thoughts

2010-02-17T21:41:00.007-05:00

In the spirit of the 2010 Winter Olympics my parents looked up these photos they had of a day trip we took in 1986 to the site of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

More amusing than the winter weather get up I have on is that the view behind my sister and I is of Colden, Algonquin and Wright Peak...3 of the 46 mountains that my father and I have been climbing. They were just mountains back then. I am sure that at age 13 I didn't even think they were remotely special.... much less dream of being at the summit of all of them some day.

During our visit we watched the bobsled and luge runs and ski jumping. We took the elevator to the top of the ski jump and actually had a beautiful view of Whiteface. To the left of the lookout was the Adirondac Loj road.

It was 6 years after the Lake Placid Olympics but the memories were still fresh for us. There was nothing more exciting than the Hockey Team beating Russia and Eric Heiden setting records and winning the gold in Speed Skating. I recall skating on the pond in my grandfather's barnyard pretending to be a speed skater. It was important to get your arm going and try to imitate the moves of the Olympians. It was definitely easier to be a speed skater than a figure skater!! My face book friend and former college roommate Chris posted an Olympic memory on her status the other night that made smile several times over the last few days. She said that she got her first pair of roller skates the summer after the 1980 games and Eric Heiden's notoriety. She recalled skating fast down the street and strolling back with her hands on her hips pretending to do an interview with Jim McKay. Chris' hope was that the kids today are watching the Olympics and incorporating the excitement of the events into their playtime. It was at that moment that I knew I needed to drum up some interest in my own kids for the 2010 games....thankfully Reagan is well aware of who Apolo Anton Ohno (speedskater) and Louis Vito (snowboarder) are from their appearances on Dancing with the Stars. Attracting new followers of their sport was EXACTLY what both of those athletes hoped would be the result of their participation.

We are definitely cheering for these guys!!!!

Sawyer Mountain

2010-01-23T22:36:00.005-05:00

Another day of full sun was in the forecast. How could I fit a snowshoe trip between dropping my son at basketball practice at 8:00am and my daughter at a birthday party at 4:00pm?? I had read a lot of trip reports on Sawyer Mountain. It is just above Indian Lake and is described as a good mountain to introduce hiking to kids. I intended to bring my nephew on a climb up this mountain but we weren't sure about him doing it on snowshoes. Today was the day that this 2.2 mile RT mountain would come in handy for Reagan's second snowshoe. She only wanted to know if it was easier than Hadley...when I expressed that it was definitely going to be easier, she decided to tag along. She entertained herself along the trail, leading most of the way up and doing an intentional and way cool butt slide on the way down. She was motivated to keep pressing ahead because there were children behind us on the trail and one of them was a boy. I told her that for one thing.....we don't want that BOY to beat us to the top and another thing.....we wanted to make it to the summit first in order to get the best seat for the view. She only rested a few times and we were successful. Even with Reagan it was just one hour to the top. Along the way she expressed interest in the animal tracks. We spotted Fisher tracks, Mole tracks, Snowshoe Hare prints and just when Reagan was in need of a diversion from the task of climbing....someone who had gone before us had built an 18 inch snowman on a rock right alongside the trail. CUTE!!!

Unfortunately, she seems to really care NOTHING for the color of the sky that my father described as Bluebird Blue. At 3/4 of the way to the summit there are finally some lookouts with nice long distance clear viewing.....NOPE, not impressed. I tried to tell her that the view is the reward for the exertion. She insists that MONEY is a reward. I told her blind people would probably pay a lot of money to be able see the view that she was taking for granted. You can lead a horse to water....regardless, it was good that she came today.

The sun was so warm and bright, the snow was sparkling like diamonds. My mind wandered to a time when maybe it will be Me..hiking with a daughter who loves it as much as I do. I will wait as patiently as my father did.

2010-01-19T20:44:00.004-05:00

My mother got this book for my father for his birthday. The few stories I was already able to read were exciting and informative. Two of the stories in the book are actually written by my 46er correspondent, Brian Hoody! One of my favorites so far was about a 76 year old man who needed a week to recover from climbing Cascade but then built his strength and endurance by climbing, went on to become a 46er at 82 years old and was eventually told by his doctor that he had actually reversed the aging process. Anecdotal about the places we've been, Informative about the mountains we have left to do and Inspirational from the people who've gone before us.

9th trip up Hadley Mountain

2010-01-16T20:03:00.004-05:00

My only goal for this Saturday morning was to SLEEP in. Reagan was at a friend's house and Dan was off today and available to take Greg to his early morning basketball practice. Mission accomplished...I got up at 11:30 when Reagan called to ask if she could stay longer at the friend's house. With more freedom than I anticipated having and the sun shining warm and bright, I began itching to go snowshoeing. Of course it would be a late start so the obvious destination would be somewhere close to home. I quickly called my father and it took him about 2 seconds to answer yes to my suggestion that we climb Hadley today. We signed in at the trailhead at 1:30 and began the climb which is steep right from the beginning. There were several other climbers taking advantage of this spectacular day. The trail is very well packed down and we actually could have worn just boots with yak traks. However, there were several pretty icy spots that required the teeth of the snowshoe crampons. We know the trail like the back of our hands at this point so it was humorous when the people coming down assured us that we were "almost there". We saw 2 golden retrievers (made me wish shadow was with us), a black newfoundland, a black lab and 2 other mixed dogs...each one looking like he was happy to be doing his favorite thing in the world. We reached the summit at 3:30. As usual all of the people that had passed us going up were also on their way down before we summitted. This works in our favor though because we had the top to ourselves. It wasn't particularly windy today and with the sun shining it felt warm. Too lazy to take our snowshoes off we didnt climb the tower today. We spent about a half hour taking in the strangely hazy view and started down at 4:00 ejoying the orange glow of the sun setting as we walked along the ridge. We had seen the tracks of a bushwacker on the way up who had been cutting off the switchbacks and decided we would follow his trail on the way down. So off the beaten path we went. It definitely cut off some time and allowed us to travel in some snow that was deeper and not slick with ice. The register was ahead of us in no time. Good thing....we signed out by headlamp at 5:10 and joked that we closed the mountain.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T22:35:00.003-05:00

My father and I started day one of the new decade by snowshoeing with some of my co-workers. The destination was Hour Pond in the Siamese Wilderness in North Creek. However, after finding that the RT would be 8.6 miles and getting an 11am start we all agreed that we would skip seeing the pond and the new lean-to if necessary to get back to the cars before dark. We made it to the junction that would have taken us the .8 miles to the pond at about 1:30. Hunger had set in and we decided that we preferred to spend more time building a fire and eating a leisurely lunch. We ate deviled eggs, cheese and pepperoni, crackers and hummus and hot dogs. We toasted the New Year Snowshoe with whatever wine or beer we were individually willing to carry for ourselves and the rule was that you still had to be able to carry yourself out of the woods! Luckily the shortcut loop back to the car was mainly downhill and gave us a quick peek at Gore Mountain off in the distance..... but we had to cross a frozen Thirteenth Lake. I found that part to be a little creepy, especially since someone questioned if it had been cold enough yet and was the ice going to be thick enough. A 6.1 mile first snowshoe of the season is nothing to sneeze at. My legs are sore and I am extremely tired. I would already be sleeping but I was eager to get back to blogging after 2 months without a computer and happy to have a trip report to share with whatever readers haven't given up on A WALK IN THE PARK.....

Wishing you a happy new year of hiking!

# 23 Santanoni

2009-10-17T21:19:00.008-04:00

Summitting Santanoni on October 5th marked our halfway point to becoming Adirondack 46ers. Being halfway through our journey would have been reason enough to celebrate and reflect, but we had a more exciting reason to celebrate. Hiking is not just exercise, it's not just something to do....it kind of starts to define you and exists as a little subculture of your regular life. It improves your self confidence while strengthening your muscles and it gives you an outlet for stress management. It allows you to enjoy beautiful places. It makes you look at the world differently. I have never appreciated nature like I have since I began hiking. I have made connections with other hikers. You sort of need to make those connections because not a lot of people understand the importance of "doing them all". My point....on Santanoni, I got the chance to witness my new "hiking connection" Lynn Benevento become a 46er. It was an amazing moment because of the story behind her finish, but it would have been a special moment without the extraordinary circumstance of her completion. Climbing 46 mountains that are all over 4,000 feet is an enormous feat. The hikes are long and most are very challenging. None are EASY. If not for hiking and sharing that connection with Lynn, I would not have gotten to witness the awesomeness of what her finish meant to her.

We started out at the Tahawus trail head for Santanoni on the Bradley Pond blue trail at 7:20am. It was chilly but not raining so we were psyched. We walked quickly on the woods road; everyone chatting and getting to know each other a little. Soon it started sprinkling and only about 30 minutes into the hike it was a steady rain. We broke out the rain jackets. Lynn had just bought herself a beautiful North Face rain jacket- complete with "pit zips" to regulate body heat. We laughed about the "technology" and pushed onward. At about 8:20 we saw some blue sky and the sun came out. We became more optimistic about the day. Just then, another one of Lynn's friend caught up to us. "Jungle" Mosher is a 46er/winter too and was now joining us along with Lynn's lifelong friend and 46er Linda Ranado who started the hike with us. This was the first time my father and I hiked with such experienced people. There is never a lack of stuff to talk about between hikers and it made for a nice trip. EVEN THOUGH....the sun was only out for about 1 hour. It quickly became overcast and dreary again. We crossed two wooden bridges and climbed a big adirondack staircase. We took the "new old" herd path...which is the original route up Santanoni. The beaver flooding that you always read about can now be avoided with a re-routed path that is slightly confusing because it is not as "beaten" as the rest of the herd path. This route is moderately steep until one point where you are given the choice of using a rope that is dangling down the face of a steep rock wall that you can go up and over (no thanks) or continue on the trail which turns out to be an equally scary alternative. Especially in the wet and wickedly slippery rich mud that the trail is made of. Of course we made it...but not without a few one step forward and two slide steps back down. I slipped twice in the muck on the way out and have never been as dirty in all my life as I was at the end of this hike. My beloved Northface jacket needed two wash cycles in Oxyclean before it was recognizable. I can proudly say that HP #23 was the first time my boots had been wet through. I now understand my friend's description of cottage cheese filled boots. That is what waterlogged wool sock covered feet feel like while hiking. Anyway...Lynn was leading the way as we started the push to the summit. Jungle kept yelling behind us.."don't get summit fever too quickly". We proceeded along the ridge which was welcomed after the steep climb and finally through the fog and clouds we were hiking in we could see the last little bump we had to cover to make it to the big finish. Jungle cheered Lynn on by saying "there she is Lynn, #46, go get her". The lump formed in my throat. Lynn kicked in whatever energy she'd been saving and made it there with Linda a good 3 minutes faster than the rest of us. We joined her on the very small summit of Santanoni and there was not a dry eye among us. Being there was a powerful feeling and I know for Lynn it was one of joy and pain. But being with someone in that kind of moment is incredible. If not for hiking I would have missed out on an important life lesson of perseverance in the face of enormous loss. It hailed at the top as we ate our lunch. Lynn was awarded her 46er patch, t-shirt and a whole bunch of stickers and pins and other treats that only 46ers are allowed to buy. Jungle had carried champagne up the mountain and popped the cork way up in the air. We all took a swig from the bottle. Lynn got out the now famous 8x10 photo of her husband to pose with for her summit picture and for #46 she also had a second 8x10 photo of her two boys that she held up. (it was the boys on their first high peak..yup, this was where I really lost it). Lynn told us that Giant was the first high peak that they did. She said they had done all kinds of hiking as a family around Lake George and other local hikes to our area and that one night her husband said, "tomorrow we are going to do a high peak" and Lynn remembered asking "can we do one of those?" because she thought they had to be done backpacking and just wasn't sure about the difficulty. I thought that was a great story to share as she was standing on Santanoni having now completed all of those high peaks that she questioned being able to do. We had NO view at the top and became cold quickly which necessitated our start down. We had made it to the top in roughly 5 hours and planned another 5 to get to the cars because of the slippery conditions. We did not do the loop which would have taken us by Bradley Pond because it was a mile longer and the weather was not getting any better. A third of the way down the mountain the sun came out over the valley and we were treated to a beautiful (well deserved) view. The fall colors were at or near peak! Of course by the time we got to the road part of the trail we were all tired and thinking that the road had to be three times longer than on the way in, but with a group, the conversation helped pass the time. At about 5:30 we were signing out and everyone congratulated Lynn again...at the parking lot she was proclaimed "official". We changed into dry clothes, my father had a celebratory beer and we jumped into the car with the heat blasting on high as we head back over the Blue Ridge Road. 23 down, 23 to go. I can't wait to earn that patch...even with all the blisters, sweat, black flies and tears that might go along with it. That's life.

friends.

2009-10-11T18:40:00.003-04:00

These guys have been friends literally since Greg was born. Andrew (on the left) was born March 2 and Greg was born on August 6. Our friends brought their little boy to see our little boy soon after he came home from the hospital. Andrew's mom and I spent 4 years being stay at home moms together. We went everywhere together and did a lot of hanging out at each other's homes to let the boys play. It was more for our socialization and I have always been thankful that a lot of my sanity was saved by the good friend I had in Meredith while we were learning the ropes as new mothers together. The boys of course went to the same preschool and I have cherished their graduation picture. For the past 10 years, this picture has been on display in a Winnie the Pooh and Tigger frame with the words...."bother free buddy break" at the top.

However, when they sang "Happy Trails"...at that graduation ceremony it meant that Greg and Andrew were off to different school districts for Kindergarten. Luckily, they stayed best friends despite the separation. They played hockey together for years and still did sleepovers at each other's houses. Then, last year, Greg transferred to the same school as Andrew and they were reunited at classmates. One person separates them in the alphabet, so they are one locker apart and have the same homeroom. They have shared Soooooo many firsts....and last night was their first homecoming dance.....and they are such good sports that they humored me with another buddy break picture....sans the thumbs up, but a real tearjerking moment for the moms nonetheless.....
I hope they will always appreciate the closeness they've grown up with! Love you guys ; )

finishing for gino

2009-10-04T17:20:00.005-04:00

In the links section of my blog is a link to Adirondack Artist Lynn Benevento's website. I posted it after a trip to her gallery before last Christmas. I was in search of meaningful gifts for particular people on my shopping list and had no trouble finding beautiful note cards and prints for family members and special friends. Checking people off of the "still need to get for" list was great but a more important thing happened that day. I connected with an inspiring, aspiring 46er. Even despite sticking my foot in my mouth big time. It was like this....Lynn has a poster board of her son's solo Appalachian Trail winter through hike. We began talking about hiking. I asked her if she was nervous knowing that he was doing that hike in the winter and all by himself. She said that he and her other son had grown up hiking with her and her husband. Lynn told of a few unplanned overnights they spent in the woods when her kids were little. She made mention of a lot of the high peaks they had hiked. I was impressed at the details she could recall as she told of her favorite and not so favorite hikes. ....Here is where I inserted my foot.... She told me that she and her husband had climbed 41 of the 46 peaks. I then asked her if "they" planned to finish. She gently informed (read reminded) me that he had passed away only two months ago and she went on to explain that they had never discussed whether she should finish them without him. I could tell she was very conflicted as any of us would be if we lost our hiking partner before the grand finale. I couldn't really form words at this point in the conversation and probably muttered some type of apology/condolence. I left the store firmly believing that she NEEDED to finish hiking those peaks and become a 46er. What a wonderful way to honor her husband and the many beautiful days in the high peaks they had shared with each other. Lynn checked in on my blog now and then and began commenting. After my Dial and Nippletop hike, Lynn commented saying that she had hiked in the Great Range on that same hot day as a test hike. Oooh...a test hike? Yes, she had decided to find out if she was in good enough shape to bag Allen, the Sewards and finally Santanoni. Soon, Lynn emailed me to say that a friend of hers was going to help her finish. I expressed my excitement and she remained cautious, stating that Allen is a tough one and She'd have to somehow get through the difficulty of Seward. Soon I had email photos filling my inbox of Lynn on the summit of the first four hikes she needed. I absolutely loved the Allen summit picture she sent me.

"Bringing" her husband along in the form of that photo she is holding is genius. I know for sure his spirit was at the top of each and every one of those remaining peaks waiting for her. The photo is a tangible reminder that he was there.

And guess what....after careful consideration...she is allowing my father and I to finish with her on Santanoni. Aside from becoming 46ers ourselves someday, this is going to be quite monumental. Being with someone as they become a 46er is one thing but in this case it is a generous gift that she is sharing with us. At first Lynn thought she might not want a lot of pomp and circumstance surrounding her poignant finish. But in the spirit of "the more the merrier" that she thought her husband would support, we are IN....hopefully the weather will cooperate. We've cancelled once and I am waiting for word if tomorrow is the day. I can't wait to share the day on Santanoni with you all. This is what makes up the good stuff in life.

Recalibrating on Cascade

2009-09-11T20:44:00.003-04:00

After almost swearing off bagging highpeaks for good, I found that returning to the spot where it all began was helpful. Our Cousin from Maryland was home for the annual Labor Day Picnic and was hoping to get in at least one hike. She and I climbed Blue Mtn together in June and that day we discussed how close in comparison Blue was to a high peak. We decided Labor Day Monday morning that we would do Cascade. My Cousin, Jane, was psyched to be climbing a true 4,000 footer. It was a beautiful sunny day, warm but with a nice breeze. My father was with us on this one. Not because he needs Cascade in the quest to become a 46er but because we are in desparate need of a good workout in order to possibly be in shape to do the next peak without nearly killing ourselves. It's odd to think of a 5 mile hike as short, quick or just a warmup workout. Not to say it was easy.....but...it was pretty easy! It also did the trick. I was happy to be in the mountains. There was no mental war going on inside my head with each step. Best of all was being able to look out at the tremendous view of the other peaks and not only be able to name them without the map but also to have stood on top of many of them. Cascade is one that I will return over and over....it is nice to be able to introduce other family members to something that has become a passion. It was nice to be reminded of that passion. Esther might be next.

good grief...

2009-09-01T22:05:00.004-04:00

teaching empathy...look what these children do for each other.

Firefighter Dan....

2009-08-18T22:19:00.003-04:00

.....couldn't make it more than two months without belonging to a fire department. The new one is lucky to get him and the old one's members still haven't wrapped their egos around the fact that he actually moved on. He went into this declaring that he is a volunteer and family comes first. Fingers crossed that their "thankful for whatever he can do for them" attitude lasts. The best part is he now belongs to the department in the town we reside. And we live in a remote part of the district. He will be a huge asset as the first responder to calls in our neck of the woods.

Dial and Nippletop aka..the killer return to hiking trip

2009-08-16T22:16:00.003-04:00

It's official...my mother was right. As you all know my last high peak hike was Tabletop back on Memorial Day Weekend. Then in mid June I did Blue Mtn. And that had been the sum total of my hiking this season due the extreme baseball schedule of my son's travel team. Even just walking for exercise in the evenings had come to a complete halt until the last week or so....therefore it suffices to say that when my mother heard of our plan to hike 14 miles to grab the aforementioned 2 peaks....she pronounced us crazy. Her warning that it was going to be hot and that we weren't in any shape to do that many miles was quickly dismissed while we tried to tell her that ALL of the hikes we have left are long. My father and I were just chomping at the bit to get back to bustin' out more of the 26 peaks we have left to do in order to become 46ers. Well...let me just tell you....it has taken me 48 hours to even want to sit here at the computer and tell you about the hike. For the last mile, the voice in my head had brainwashed me into thinking 22 was a good number to remain at... forever. My father was behind me planning a backpacking trip for us to do Colvin and Blake and I was like...are you kidding, I am never doing this again. Just as everyone who hikes the high peaks says...the mountains are always teaching us stuff. This was the first time, I was so incredibly physically exhausted that my mental state diminished to the point where I was severely pissed off at how long the last 3 miles of a hike actually are. Every thought in my head was negative and even the beautiful waterfalls and pools of Gill Brook were not enough to snap me out of it. Before the Lake Road of the Ausable Club came into view...I actually began to cry. For a second, I lost it (but only to myself) and I actually had to tell myself to snap out of it and pull myself together.

The actual hike started out at the gate of the AMR at 7:50am. The armed guard who came out immediately to greet us was pleasant. Asked if we had enough water (which we did, although my father did drink a bottle from Gill Brook unfiltered- he's fine). He told us to do the loop if we planned on doing both mountains because after the steep part of Elk Pass the trail was a nice descent. Soon, we were excitedly on our way. The turn off the Lake Road to start Dial and Nippletop was quickly reached. We began the ascent which was steep but the footing was soft and not at all rocky like most trails. It gave us some nice flat breaks now and then but gaining 4,000 feet to reach the summit was nothing to sneeze at. My father and I took MANY breaks and it was quickly determined that we needed to take our time. We had head lamps if we needed them. The wooded trail was breezy and the bugs were few and far between. A cute group of kids with a camp counselor passed us. The 8-13 year olds were little troopers. They were only going to Dial which they made it to and were on their return before we summited. Hmmm? The mud was present but not terrible. Most spots were easy to get around, however at the end I was one of those hikers who just trods right through it. Nothing was boot sinking deep so that was good. We came upon the first lookout from Bear Den which was just striking. Stayed a few minutes and took pictures with my camera phone. Yup, the only camera I brought this trip. Lack of planning ahead. Anyway, over to the big rock that is near or is the summit of Dial. We didn't see a summit sign or a survey marker. Sat on the big rock looking at the great range for about 15 minutes. Up to that point the hard work of the climb in 85 degree weather was worth it. We left this lookout at 1:30 hoping to summit Nippletop by 3:00. After a lot of climbing back down and into the col and back up we found the junction to Nippletop and Elk Pass Trail. Over the .2 to Nippletop for a quick look and then back to the Pass Trail. It was 3:45 when we got our first look at the STEEP descent of the Elk Pass. At this tired point in the day, I could not believe some of the spots we had to climb down. My legs were quivering quite a bit by this point and I resorted as I usually do to sliding down some of the bare rock on my butt. I prefer doing that to hurling myself head first down the trail. We got a look at the designated sites on this route and I have to say that none of them looked great. Not so much referring to whether they were level but the surroundings weren't that picturesque. Maybe my attitude was problematic by that point? We made it the junction of Colvin and Blake. I looked at it with disgust and my father tried to tell me that it would look better to me on a new day and off we went. It was 5:30 and we had 4.9 miles to the parking area. I can't believe that this post is filled with such disdain. I am usually so thankful and happy to have been able to get out in the beauty of the high peaks. Gives you a good idea of my mental status at hour 9, mile 9 and counting. We stayed on the Gill Brook Trail expecting to get to the Lake Road quicker than we actually did and it turns out that one sign pointed two ways to the lake road and we chose the route to the right which kept us right next to the brook. Normally I would have thought this a good idea except following the brook only led us up and down some very steep, soft, slippery embankments. After a quick look at the map it appeared that had we taken the left trail to the lake road we would have gone away from the creek and made it to the road quicker. Regardless...when I could finally see the lake road and the trail was not leading to it just yet...I traipsed off the trail and onto "private property" to get on the ROAD. Which, I have to say did not feel any better on the four blisters that had appeared on my feet. We took a short rest at the dam of Gill Brook and looked at the fish swimming in the reservoir that appears to provide water the Ausable Club. Finishing out the last bit of the Lake Road at about 8:15, we signed out at the gate still having to make our way through the Club and to the parking lot .3 miles away. At least it is all down hill. We got to the car at 8:30 making the day officially 12 and a half hours long. I peeled my socks off of my feet and was happy to let my father drive my car home. I promptly took an aleve and drank my ice cold green tea that my father so smartly packed in the cooler. The "never again" idea is obviously gone....but it is gonna take a couple weeks to recover.

Happy 14th Birthday Greg

2009-08-06T21:50:00.003-04:00

Ths bllplyer got a nw fone 4 his bday w/ unlmtd txtng

Every year since Greg was 10 I have said that I wished I could freeze him at "that age"....each year he has brought me more and more joy. He has developed an awesome sense of humor and I love just being around him. So once again, I am thinking 14 is going to bring more of the same fun....Bring on the high school years!!! Ok. yeah. I. Know @ the turbulence. Sometimes it is better to watch him from afar. But that is because he is so darn handsome and he definitely acts more polite with every other person on earth besides the three people who have to live with him. I'm ready....my friend tells me he'll come back around @ about 16 and a half. Whatever. He's calling me right now to come and tuck him in. Shhhhh!!!

game over...

2009-08-01T19:22:00.005-04:00

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

The luck ran out this morning....the South Troy Dodgers lost to an undefeated team who was described by everyone as "hitting machines".

Their record at the end of the tournament was 6 wins and 2 losses.

Bit by bit I am getting more information about particular games. My father told my mother that Greg pitched so well that after a couple innings there were about 500 people gathered to watch him. The ump closed the strike zone down in the last inning and a few "easy" plays weren't so easy and that is how they ended up losing it.

The coaches gave the kids an awesome speech before they got on the bus to come home. I can't wait to hear more about it. I can't wait to see them tonight.

lots to smile about in Michigan

2009-08-01T00:47:00.005-04:00

Greg and Mike getting off the bus. These are the two "local" boys the newspaper is now talking about. Guess what Post Star....you are going to be covering these two aces for the next 4 years! Today they combined for a Triple play....Greg was playing third and #20 was playing first base. Greg caught a line drive for the first out, threw to first base where Mike got the runner who was trying to come back to first and then Mike gunned the ball back over to Greg at third where the runner who was trying to advance from second was tagged out!!!

Opening ceremonies for the Sandy Koufax 13's World Series. There are teams from Connecticut, Maryland, Indiana and Michigan to name a few....

I love the candid style of this picture and how it somehow captures the essence of Team.

Greg hit .500 in the first round with 2 doubles, a triple, some singles and only 2 strike outs. He had 3 RBI's and scored 5 runs. That is puttin' up some numbers!

The Scoreboard after the first round of pool play. 20 teams were broken into 4 pools. South Troy is shown undefeated and advancing to the start of the double elimination round. Greg got the starting game of the second round and although pitching a "gem" according to Dan...the game ended in the team's first loss of the tournament at 9-7.

They bounced back in the next two games that were played Friday and are now in the final four. The Dodgers go up against an undefeated team at 10:30am Saturday morning. Each win so far represents an advancement that FEW kids who play this game will ever experience.
All of these photos came from one of the parent's flickr sites. How awesome for me to be able to access them while the series is still going on. Makes me feel like I am there. Which at this point....it is killing me that I am not. Something tells me though, that I am going to have the opportunity to see lots of great moments like this in the next 8 years.

Ridgeview Dairy Farm in Argyle, New York

2009-07-27T21:11:00.006-04:00

When I was growing up my parents and grandparents raised cows, chickens and pigs. They had longtime friends who lived in Argyle and also raised animals and did farming. We tended to spend a lot of time with them since they had the same interests. Often we would help them with a particular farming task and they would return the favor with whatever we needed done. When we drove to Argyle growing up, my father would roll all the windows down and proclaim that he LOVED the smell of cow manure and corn silage. All the while my sister and I gagged ~quite dramatically I might add. I was always the oldest of all my parent's friend's kids. And the Argyle friends' kids came along when I was 9. Their son was about 4 years old when they were in the thick of farming. That little boy LIVED and BREATHED anything farm related. Well, his father eventually got out of farming....he always had a "regular" job anyway and it just got to be too much. The couple ended up getting a divorce and needless to say we didn't see a whole lot of them. I get kind of emotional (yup, me..) when I see the kids...all grown up now...AND the son is a big time FARMER which is actually no surprise. He is undoubtedly living his lifelong dream of being a dairy farmer. For the past 3 years or so he had been renting a farm and running it himself. It was a dairy farm which he worked for the whole 3 years to turn over to Certified Organic. Then he decided that it was counterproductive for him to try to rent from someone else....so he bought his own 50 acre farm. Every time we would run into his mother we would tell her that we wanted to bring the kids over to see the animals and the working farm but never seemed to have (make) the time to follow through. So once again after seeing her last week (and not seeing my sister much at all due to the hectic baseball schedule) we bit the bullet and made the trip. It was better than any school field trip. The farmer and his girlfriend made time in their busy farming schedule to show us around and answer questions...and they didn't hesitate to let us know that they had to get back to their work...because chores need to be done before the 4:30pm milking time.

In this barn, 65 dairy cows are housed. I have to tell you specifically about the conditions these cows are cared for in. Although the barn is old, it has huge fans on the end that draw the hot air out and provide circulation of air. There was a cool breeze throughout the stalls where the cows are hooked with a chain but loosely and such that they can lay down if they want or stand up. They had good looking fresh hay in front of them and the blue buckets in front of them are filled fresh every 10 minutes by a built in water spicket. The cows had plenty of room between them. They don't go to a milking parlor, they are milked right in their own area. To music. The barn had a sound system piped throughout. Hearing top 40 music in the barn actually made it seem like a cool place to work. Although it must have been potent in there because even I could smell it.

The several contraptions that hook to their utters are also hooked to the steel lines that run from the stall over head to the big milk tank where secure bio protocols are in use. I think that means clean? The farmer moves down the line of 65 cows milking each of them individually.
The farmer (Dan) said they get 7,000 gallons of milk every other day. A refrigerated truck comes to take the milk. He used to supply to Stewart's but he said they don't pay the farmer what he deserves, so he sells his milk to a co-op. He is working on getting his current farm switched to organic and said that he will get 3 times more money for the organic milk that will be produced.

Other than the dairy cows, they had one horse, 4 pet goats, 2 dogs, 15-20 heifers (one year old cows) and banty chickens and some baby chicks.

The baby calves stole the show for the kids. This little guy below licked and tried to suckle on my littlest nieces fingers. Needless to say we are going to HAVE to go back. Reagan was surely impressed by the vastness of owning the land and THAT MANY cows and other animals. I think it made an impression on her that he SELLS milk to the stores and that our milk ORIGINATES right there. She was actually a little grossed out by that, but we explained the homogenization process and she was better. I was mindful during the visit of the respect we must give these hardworking beyond explanation people that do what they do for our food supply. How ridiculous that someone would consider heaping more tax on a farmer.....

Reagan asked on the way home if he is rich. My sister and I almost in unison answered..."If you call doing what you love rich..then he certainly is.

smart bear in the adks

2009-07-27T17:32:00.002-04:00

I hope I don't come into contact with the bear named "yellow-yellow" during my next backpack trip. I don't use a bear vault, but this girl may figure out what do with a coin by then.

Heading to the Sandy Koufax World Series in Battle Creek, Michigan

2009-07-26T15:59:00.005-04:00

One of the other Devil Cat Baseball Mom's shared this picture with me yesterday. #21 is Greg ready to touch homeplate and celebrate with his team after hitting his second homerun of the state tournament. Unfortunately, his own team came in second and was unable to advance to the AABC World Series, but the champions invited him to join their roster. He's going to Michigan!! This is one of those "once in a lifetime" opportunities in the sport of baseball. My father and my husband are accompanying him. I am hoping for hour by hour text updates....maybe I should have them join twitter before they go.

angel in the outfield

2009-07-18T20:22:00.004-04:00

Greg was pitching in a little league tournament 4 months after my grandfather died in 2005. Greg was only 9 when he announced before the championship game that he was going to pitch to win the tournament for Grampa Hoddie. And...he did. So now, when I ask for help from above during the nail biter games, I'm not asking god for assistance with striking out a tough hitter or giving Greg a little extra power in his bat...I am asking my grandfather. It is quite common for me to ask (ok, beg) my grandfather during a clutch situation to help make something happen. Because, I know if he could do something he would. Yesterday we played two games and split, so going into today we had to win both in order to move onto the championship game of the league tournament. Greg didn't pitch the first day of the tournament and ended up getting hit in the wrist in the second game. He sat out the last couple innings and went to the ER for x-rays. Nope, not broken...but "no sports until monday". Ummm...yeah, right. He's gotta PITCH or there will be no "monday". Needless to say, we taped him up, medicated him up and he was ready to go. Or was he? Three quarters of the way to Valley Falls, he said he needs to throw up and we should pull over. He makes sure we know that it is not because he is sick. He is nervous. He has been *itching all the way down about needing music to get him psyched for the game. I was wondering why the kid that warmed up to be a goalie for hockey to brittney spears "hit me baby one more time" was being so choosy this morning. Instead of becoming frustrated myself...I decided to play "When I Look to the Sky" by train which is sort of my theme song when I want to think about my grampa. The usual needless bickering in the backseat subsided and a calmness came over all of us. Soon we were at the ballpark. Greg pitched great and hit a 3 run out of the park homer to help himself secure the first win they needed to advance. Moments like that make me feel for sure that my grandfather is with us.

He would have gotten just as big of a kick out of Reagan searching for the home run ball for her brother. A sign that we must be basking in some sort of serenity from above. I followed Reagan as she set out on a run to find the ball for her brother. When we got out behind the fence, she was the one to spot the ball hiding in tall grass on the other side of a swampy creek. I told her we would never be able to get it without landing in the water. She said NO, we would have to find a branch to fish the ball closer to us so that she could reach out and get it. We found a very long but not very dead hanging branch. I twisted and twisted it but it would not break off. I told Reagan, it wont break off, we arent going to be able to get the ball. She said "We are NOT giving up, I AM GETTING THAT BALL FOR MY BROTHER!" So in the 85 degree heat...I twisted and twisted the branch until it finally let go and we managed to get the ball within reach of Reagan who had to brace herself on the bank of this little creek in order to succeed. She was so proud to present the ball to her brother who appeared surprised by how important it was to his sister that she got it for him. I think I even heard him say thank you.

Hutsie

2009-07-09T21:20:00.004-04:00

It seems that all cute little Yorkies have cute little names...Daisy, Skittles, Chloe, Kali. And we went and named our pint size puppy a big dog name like HUDSON. Needless to say his big dog name has morphed into the cutsie nickname of "Hutsie". I thought it was time I posted an updated picture of the little guy.

A Hall of Fame Fourth

2009-07-07T22:27:00.006-04:00

For all of the time my family spends at the ballpark, it is quite fitting that we spent America's Birthday at the birthplace of it's past time...Cooperstown, New York and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Greg's travel league had the opportunity to play at Doubleday Field which is adjacent to the Hall of Fame. Sherilee and her nephew had come to visit and although he skipped the Poison Concert, he was geared up for his first trip to Cooperstown. My mother and father also joined us for the chance to see Greg play at this historic field. We set out at 9am planning to stop along the way in the little town of Palatine Bridge. There is a population of Amish people on New Turnpike Road and we were hoping that it might be baking day. While the trip through that countryside is always impressive, we did not find a bake sale. We did see three Amish boys in their straw hats and obviously handmade clothes outside working at one farm and an Amish girl outside her home "mowing" the lawn...with a hand tool. Up until about last year, Greg was totally creeped out by the Amish men, so we promptly began teasing him that the girl who looked about his age was scoping him out. Clearly Greg could not marry into an Amish family as there is far too much work that would be expected of him. Anyway...we made our way to Cooperstown by Noon despite a detour around their fourth of july parade. The tour of the Hall of Fame can be as short or as long as you want it to be. Everyone in my family has been there at least 3 times. For two years I bought my Dad and Greg memberships to the Hall of Fame which entitled them to unlimited visits as well as other perks. During a few of their trips they were the only visitors in the whole place, so they were able to view the exhibits at their own pace; without be rushed by people trying to peek over your shoulder. We spent about 2 hours rounding out the visit with a trip to the gift shop. Dan was looking to replace some of his (continuously worn) fire department shirts with some baseball t's and Greg begged for a new Mets hat. We got out cheap with reagan who really just wanted a pink baseball bat shaped pen. Whewwww! Oh, she also wants to be inducted into the hall of fame at some point in her life as the baseball sister who has attended the most games. I think that has potential as a new attraction. We strolled through some of the gift shops where Greg talked us into buying a sterling silver #21 pendant/necklace (a must for all travel baseball players). Finally, it was time to eat. We settled on Cooley's Tavern which my father knew to be a favorite of Greg's Cooperstown Native High School coach. It was good food at a decent price with quick service. Reagan took a picture of her pizza rolls to show the owner of the pizza place we always go to. She thinks she can persuade him to add them to the menu! Greg had to get dressed for the game by 4pm and was indeed ready to go by the time the rest of his team gathered at the field. Some team pictures were taken at the entrance to the field and they awaited their turn to occupy the dugouts. The game was to a nine inning game and ironically we have 9 pitchers on the 11 man team. Each one of them got an inning. Greg got to start. The game did not count in our standings. We had already secured a spot in the tournament that should they win, qualifies them for nationals in Michigan. So, the fact that we came from behind, tied it up and held that tie until the bottom of the ninth was mostly entertainment value. The final score was 12-11. No doubt, had we been "playing to win" we would have beat the Niskayuna team who didn't seem to care that it should be more important that all of the pitchers would have liked a turn on that mound. We packed up the cars and headed for home at 9pm. Twice we were able to see fireworks going off in the distance. The only ones we would see this fourth....hey, I'd trade seeing fireworks for watching my son pitch in Cooperstown any day!!

graduation "gift"

2009-06-28T23:49:00.003-04:00

WAY TO GO ANDREW! I am so honored to have been included in YOUR big day!

michael jackson

2009-06-25T23:42:00.003-04:00

This is the Michael Jackson that I don't want to think of as gone...even though he's been "gone" for a long time.

The story of his childhood is pretty disturbing. Sad that he went from this little cutie to the strange character that he was in his last years. I am sad tonight because my memories of middle school certainly included MJ. I used to have to take a nap when I got home from school in order to stay up to watch the American Music Awards and they always saved him for last. Despite personal opinions, he was quite an entertainer. Like Elvis, you either loved him or hated him. For me, Michael Jackson music will always transport me to the "tween" years. And like the Thriller album and the Bad album..... those years were really good.

Blue Mountain

2009-06-17T22:24:00.003-04:00

Work has been busy, life with the kids has been busy and it has been tough finding time to hike. My cousin is visiting from Maryland as she has done for the past couple of years. She too fell in love with hiking and usually reminds me several times as her trip is approaching that I need to figure out which mountains we will hike when she arrives. Well, it was nearing her last few days here and she had only done Hadley Mountain (again) with my mother early in her trip. Good time to mention that she is my mother's first cousin and actually the cousin that my grandfather dubbed his 3rd daughter. Therefore, she could (and should) be considered my aunt. So....my mother was supposed to come with us but wasn't feeling well so I had a rare day alone with my "aunt" jane. Turns out that it was not only the hiking that brought peace and serenity and but the great talk we had too. Lots of serious stuff but in all that seriousness was also the chance to talk about our important people. I will treasure our day together for a long time.

The choice to climb Blue Mountain was an easy one. Except that it is another firetower that I have now climbed without my father. He was at work. But, I would be willing to climb it again. Maybe in the fall. Driving up route 28 I was excited to see what Blue would have in store for us. I have to say that the guide books are quite accurate. Steep middle section...yup...a lot of smooth rock slab that was wet and slippery in some places. That smooth steep rock coupled with the several stream crossings, boardwalk planks to walk on while avoiding mud and the rocky sections very seriously mimic a high peak. After all Blue Mtn is only about 400 feet shy of 4,000. The four mile RT took us just under 4 hours with more than 20 minutes spent at the summit. We climbed the fire tower...all the way to the cabin of the tower and enjoyed 360 degree views. Colden, Algonquin and Marcy were distinguishable to the North. I especially enjoyed the scenery that included many bodies of water to the southwest. Blue Mtn Lake, Raquette Lake and the Fulton Chain of Lakes that are actually below Bald Mountain. Wakely fire tower is also visible. The black flies were in swarms most of the way up the trail but didn't cause any huge distress. At the summit while trying to sit and eat they posed a bit of an annoyance. Just standing up took care of that problem as there was a slight breeze. I applied deet in an attempt to avoid a street and nye experience. We made our way over to a southern facing cliff (near the cell tower). There was a nice view on that side. The observer's cabin is still standing, locked and barred, but possible to sit on it's porch and enjoy the view to the south that I just described. We met about 15 people either at the summit or on the trail. Still it was quiet and the people were pleasant. The journey back down was a bit anxiety provoking. We sought out some herdpath routes through the forest to avoid sliding down the rock slabs out of control. This is the cousin that turned her ankle on Mt. Jo. But she was a champ climbing this (almost) high peak. No camera on this hike...I know, CRAZY. I can't believe it either. I jacked a photo from flickr just to give her folks back home an idea of what their mother is "up" to......

Reagan's Recital

2009-06-16T21:28:00.003-04:00

Reagan danced in her 8th recital this past weekend. She did a ballet dance and a jazz dance as well as the jazz finale production number that included the whole dance school. Fancy Hairstyle and application of the stage makeup.....

On stage....

This is the one night that belongs to Reagan. The little sister who goes to all her brother's baseball games is somewhat repaid by his attendance at this one sole night of dancing. He gave her a dozen yellow roses and a big hug. Reluctantly yes, but it was a hug nonetheless.

The professional photographer's photo......

She caught him off guard with another hug the next day at his game.

grooming for greg and hudson.

2009-06-07T22:00:00.003-04:00

Greg broke his second tooth from the front clean off today during his baseball game. He had already been hit in the hand while catching and his wrist has been sore for about a week now. So in order to compensate for his hand and wrist, he got up to bat in the 3rd inning and decided he would be most comfortable bunting. Well, he doesn't usually bunt and it turns out that the ball came straight up and back at him catching him in the face. In addition to his tooth now being about an 1/8 of an inch long and very sensitive to hot and cold....there is a good size laceration inside his bottom lip. Luckily it didn't require stitches. Both the upper and lower lip are swollen. Tomorrow we'll find out how quick the dentist can get him in. His last question to the ER doctor was, "do I have to miss any playing time?" After a quick glance my way, the doctor told him no, there were no limitations on his activity. I am thankful he didn't break a limb, but I am not looking forward to the co payments of rebuilding his tooth. I am sure our share will be upwards of $1,000.

This little munchkin is going for his first haircut tomorrow. More so to get him used to standing still and behaving for the groomer because his coat is still coming back in after the skin problems he had a few months ago. She will trim him up a bit and do his toenails for us; hopefully his bangs won't be so out of control. It is the only part on him that really needs trimming.

celebrating his win

2009-06-02T23:52:00.003-04:00

Sharing your Best Shot is popular with this gal. Here are mine from Sunday travel baseball.

gatorade and a glove. tools of the trade.

peace out.

2009-06-01T22:35:00.006-04:00

Dan made the very difficult decision to leave the fire department that he has been member of for the last 21 years. He moved through the ranks and leaves the department having held the position of 1st assistance chief. As you might imagine, being part of an organization such as a fire department has its definite downfalls. The portrayal of them being a tight brotherhood of men is often exaggerated. Most of the time Dan's department could be defined as one big dysfunctional family. Greg has seen enough power and control exerted by the "higher ups" that he has vowed never to join. I believe that the fire department fills a void for certain types of people. It is a rare breed that will put their life on the line and on hold for the often thankless job of volunteer fireman. Unfortunately, the thanklessness sometimes comes from your own men forgetting that you are a volunteer. I just wish that the job could somehow, somewhat, come close to the idealized version. Nonetheless, our lives have also been positively affected by his involvement. Greg has enjoyed the camaraderie of the junior members. Dan was always so good to this up and coming group of young members. He made them feel important and useful. These young guys would help Dan with yard work at our own home in exchange for lunch at the nearby pizza place. No matter what, this was nice bonding time. Something that the older, more jaded members should have taken a lesson from. I recall the night that Dan joined the fire department. It was his 18th birthday, he was finally old enough to join. They voted him in immediately. I remember the first call he responded to. He just about broke his neck getting out of his house. I can proudly say that he answered most of the next 3,000 calls in the same enthusiastic manner. Even with all of us telling him from the dinner table to skip some of them. Reagan has responded to many a fire call in her day too. She has seen a lot from her position in the passenger seat of car 210. Of the two kids, she has the best memories of the fire department. She spent her whole 4th year of life hanging at the firehouse and lunching with different members. She could write her own version of Little Critter's Just me and my Dad. One year Dan checked a carbon monoxide detector on Christmas for people who were too embarrassed to have the whole company toned out. I have watched him come upon a fatal motorcycle accident scene and completely take over until the ambulance arrived. I know the department will have another 1st assistant chief in no time, but the commitment of that person will undoubtedly fall short as they have some big boots to fill. We are going to be on the move with baseball of course, but Dan has also had a rekindling (no pun intended) of his interest in hiking with me and being healthier. For sure, the fire department supplied our lives with a lot of stress. It was time to end the chapter and I am glad he recognized it. For the entire 15 years we have been married, there has not been a night that the fire scanner was not calling out to us every emergency in two counties. Tonight, it was quiet. And I have to say it was nice.....and maybe, just maybe, a tad bittersweet.

Tabletop makes 20

2009-05-26T20:47:00.005-04:00

Number 20 for two of us that is. We started out the 2009 high peak hiking season on Tabletop. My father and I welcomed some extra hikers on this trip. Dan joined us for another go at a high peak after he proclaimed Cascade and Porter to be the first and last of the 46ers he would attempt. Sherilee was up for a visit this weekend like many of the other New Jersey folk we saw on the highway and she was more than ready for the 10.5 mile hike we had in store. We arrived at the adirondack loj at about 8:45 to suprisingly find more than enough parking on this Monday holiday. We made it to Marcy Dam by 9:40. This is such a neat spot, I am glad my husband was finally there with me. There are a whole lot of people who have no idea where or what is Marcy Dam. After a short rest we set out on the phelps brook trail which is rocky but they are smaller rocks which are easier on the feet. There was not as much mud as I had expected on any of the trails. In fact I would say that even the muddiest spots were no worse than they would be in July. There was no sign of snow left anywhere. It seemed that we quickly passed the trail that leads up Phelps and my father and I recalled thinking our Phelps hike was a big one. Back when an 8 mile hike was unheard of for us. We continued on for about 40 minutes and arrived at the cairn (and a sign) marking the herdpath up Tabletop. It was 11:30. We had already planned to visit Indian Falls and loop over to Avalanche Camp via the Lake Arnold connector trail but the decision that needed to be made was..... do we climb the mountain and eat lunch at the summit or visit the falls for lunch first? Standing at the cairn with the idea that it is only half a mile to the summit made climbing the mountain seem like the best option so that we didnt have to double back the .1 mile after visiting the falls. WELL....Let me just tell you....Tabletop is NO EASY climb. It is an unmarked herdpath alright. It starts out VERY narrow and with a little portion of blow down. The city girl who likes to lead the way quickly gave up the front position because it was a little confusing for someone who has not seen a herdpath before. She can navigate the path train from NJ to NYC like a champ though, so we didnt make fun of her. Sure enough there was plenty of root grabbing and fancy foot placing to get up this one. Pretty slow going. It took us an hour. We were definitely ready to see that summit marker and our lunch. It was 12:30. There was one little area beyond the summit marker to eat lunch and it featured Mt. Marcy as the backdrop. Dan asked a lot of questions about our climb up Marcy last July. I think he was pretty impressed seeing it for real and knowing that Greg had done it with us. We spent at least a half hour eating lunch. The climb down required just as much caution but we were able to do it in 30 minutes. Back on the blue trail to Mt. Marcy we hiked about 5 minutes to a creek. We crossed it and continued on for about another 5 minutes realizing after asking the ranger, that the little creek we had just crossed did lead to the top of the falls. There is a sign, but we missed it. When you follow the little paths leading out to the falls everything opens up and you have a beautiful unobstructed view of Algonquin, Iriquois, Wright, Colden and Avalanche Pass (although you cannot see down through the pass) This actually would have been the better spot for lunch, but at that point, I was glad the climb was behind us. Dan drank his first filtered water out of Indian Falls. For some reason I think it is important to make note of where your first katadyn filtered water drink comes from and it should not be from just any old stream. Ok..so a few minutes were spent enjoying the scenery and the sit down. We started the mostly downhill portion of the Lake Arnold crossover trail and continued toward Avalanche Camp for more downhill rock hopping. Avalanche Camp was a welcome sight because it is a nice open clearing to sit and rest. It is an old lean to site. The new lean to was built much farther up in the woods and the little clearing has been a re-vegetation area that is now all grassy. We left this spot at 4:00, VERY TIRED and ready to use a real bathroom and sit in the comfortable seat of the car. The one mile to Marcy Dam went relatively quick as the trail is mostly flat and not at all rocky. It is a nice section that follows Marcy Brook. We hit Marcy Dam at 4:30 and at break neck, my legs are killing me and my boots are filled with hot lava speed- we signed out at 5:15. No black flies to speak of except at the last break we took with .9 till the parking lot. We will now take the month of June off as to not have a repeat of the black fly torture endured last June on Street and Nye. Time to plan for the first backpack trip in July.

lazy catch up post.

2009-05-20T21:51:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday we set out for Brooklyn to watch Greg's travel team play the Brooklyn Bonnies. Before we left, I walked around the yard and photographed my full and fragrant lilac bushes for fear that they would be past peak when we returned.

We met the rest of his teammates at Bella Napoli. I could not resist, despite my husband's (successful) healthy eating plan, going inside and purchasing some goodies. Twice, I have bought the one type of cannoli that is sold at our local bakery, Biscuits. Saturday, I was ovewhelmed with the choices of sinful treats. They had several kinds of cannoli, including the mini french ones that I devoured as soon as I got to the car. Slowly but surely, I ate everything pictured above, with only slight assistance from Greg. Tasted great and was good comfort food for the stress of trying to follow the other parents who drove like madmen on the NJ turnpike. As an aisde, while in NJ we passed the CAMPMOR store. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to stop. My father and I were like two kids passing by a candystore!!!

A few more tidbits:

the baseball went well. Greg pitched and they only lost by 1 run in each game on Saturday.
Sherilee met us there and we got to have lunch with her on Sunday below the Brooklyn Bridge.
Father in Law Bob let us borrow his Van and his Garmin GPS. Thank You!
Dan can say he has driven through Manhatten (thank god for that GPS gadget)
I have the best daughter in the world. She didnt complain about having to drive 8 hours to watch 8 hours of baseball and she amused herself by watching all the different dog breeds being walked through the Parade Ground Park in Brooklyn, a little sad that she had to leave Hudson home. When she wasn't dog watching, She napped on the bleachers to pass time. Awesome. Thanks to Gramma Cindy for babysitting her yorkie grand-doggie.
Oh yeah, and after my whirlwind trip to the city, I had to report for Jury duty monday morning. 6 more hours of sitting just to be released without so much as one question directed at me. 6 more years before I have to do that again.

Now, is it really only Thursday? I am tired. Can't wait for the upcoming three day weekend!

mother's day

2009-05-10T00:55:00.002-04:00

I was greeted at the door after work on Friday by both kids bearing gifts that they had made in school. I have to say I expected something "school made" from reagan, but getting a computer lit class generated mother's day card from greg was a shock. I immediately thought of a conversation that a friend and I had right before our boys started preschool together. She said, "I can't wait until we start getting projects made with macaroni from the boys". Gifts made at preschool were so cherished that they could easily have been the sole reason to send your 3 year old there. Here is part of Greg's card. The front has a picture of Mt. Marcy on it (we climbed together) and the page opposite this picture of him batting was the Hadley Mt. Firetower Patch. Reagan painted me a mini flower pot and made french toast and coffee for me this morning. This would have been a real treat, except she loves to do this whenever we have a weekend morning free. Like the sentiment in Greg's card....they both make me feel special everyday.

Happy Mother's Day to you all.

Excruciatingly.Painful.Movie

2009-05-08T22:36:00.002-04:00

I read the book and then dared to watch the movie. I am not sure which was worse. I should have known better. Awesome (true) story. Almost unbearable to sit through the last 30 minutes. My crying at this movie was a given, 10 year old could have gone either way, whether Dan would stay awake is always the question when we sit down after 8pm to watch ANY movie.....ALL 3 OF US CRIED Audibly for a good 10 minutes. People with older dogs are cautioned strongly to proceed with caution on this one.

"A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes. Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine. A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside. A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."— John Grogan

connection.

2009-05-07T19:05:00.011-04:00

Since renewing my friendship with my friend from college I have received 2 packages and one card in the mail from her. Last week I got a card out of the blue...which was a very bright part of my week. I happened to have a blank card at home so I quickly wrote a response and intended to be a "real mail sender" myself. However, the card has sat in my purse waiting for a stamp. Blog tributes to this wonderful girlfriend are going to have to work for now....Today I got home from work to find another package. This time it was a hand crafted mother's day card (actually it was a mini scrap book) with a mixed music (meaningful) CD. You see, we are doing the Brene Brown read along together (but miles apart) and part of the read along is doing homework assignments. regan decided to share her mix tape assignment with me by sending that CD.
Friend regan (as opposed to daughter reagan) included the quote: "I do not wish to treat friendship daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost work, but the solidest thing we know"......Ralph Waldo Emerson.

She also included a wish for a happy mother's day.....

Happy mother's day to you too regan!
Us....13 years ago.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

tulips are blooming

2009-05-04T22:26:00.005-04:00

With camera in tow after Saturday's hike, I caught my mother working in her flower garden. I wish I inherited more of her flower determination. Most of what I have in my yard came either directly from her or at her suggestion. Here are some of her more common beauties...but the best of her garden is yet to come.

dedicated to friendship.

2009-05-03T00:25:00.005-04:00

I love this song and was even happier that the video included long time friends as well as couples. My friend Sherilee left her position of employment this past week after an extended period of mounting difficulties. She routinely worked 16 hour days, not including the time spent on the road as an underpaid and underappreciated "personal assistant". It sucks to have your loyalty questioned when you've been giving a 150%. I am thinking about her and trying to converse with her more than normal. She just told me she has expanded her brand new job search to the Albany area. What? That would be too good to be true! Talk about change (smallpines). Come on up Sheri....we don't need no stinking billionaire!

Thomas Mountain * Bolton Landing

2009-05-02T21:32:00.011-04:00

Jennifer suggested that we hike today sometime mid week. I love that she planned ahead for us to do something healthy both mentally and physically together....everyone needs that after a busy week at work! It also gave me the opportunity to "play" before I had to SHAMPOO CARPETS and BABYSIT MY NIECES AND NEPHEWS...WHEW....that is a whole different post people.

No short drive to a local hike should be without a DETOUR.....Yup, we knew exactly where we were going until they threw this little curve ball at us. The detour took us along the Schroon River on a dirt road to Ridin-Hy Ranch. This was CLEARLY not where we wanted to end up....Reagan and Jennifer share a love of horses though, so not all was lost. Reagan wanted to ditch the hiking idea and just go riding. Actually, when she heard the word "Resort", she thought we should rent a cabin and stay a while. Rather than feel stupid that we took an unnecessary trip, we regarded it as a little treat.

We got on the trail about 20 minutes later than we hoped, but it did not affect the ending time that we were shooting for. The trailhead is off Valley Woods Road, which is 4 miles east on route 11 from exit 24 of I-87. I only saw room for about 6 cars. In the summer, I am sure you need to get there early (or late) to get a spot. Reagan signed us in and along with Hudson, the three of us followed the obvious woods road which began to climb steady 10 minutes into the hike. Most of the hike was on good footing, not alot of rocks and boulders in the trail. It seemed moderately strenuous. At the one marker sign pointing us to Thomas, it said .8 miles and 557 feet of ascent. That is nothing to sneeze at. Round Trip is 3 miles to Thomas Mountain and 6 miles if you choose to do Cat Mountain in a loop. Just climbing Thomas fit with the schedules of the day and is a decent hike for the beginning of the season (and Reagan). We encountered a snake, toads and a grouse taking off that scared the bejesus out of Reagan. The bird sounds like an animal growling when it takes off from its perch on the forest floor. The scariness depends on how close you are to them. We remarked that this didn't feel like a "woodsy" hike but the payoff is a cute little cabin at the small summit lookout. We sat on the porch of the cabin and had a snack while enjoying the view of Lake George to the left and rolling mountains to the center and right. Notice that birch logs are the posts of the porch. When Jen pointed this out, Reagan informed us that she had noticed that right away. Well, I am glad she is paying attention to detail out here in nature! "Clearly" ( Jen remarked after Reagan used the term that she doesnt get it from a stranger...sounds funny coming from a 10 year old) Clearly, she is not as blind as we thought. Things are starting to green up, so the view was looking slightly plush..not as barren as a few weeks ago. Reagan asked if I had climbed this mountain before. I told her after two hadley mountain hikes in a row, I was happy to report that I HAD NOT climbed this one before.
Not the same old view of Lake George from this mountain. We had to look real hard to see any sign of civilization out there.

Clearly, Reagan is enjoying her cliff bar....after she confirmed it was not a peanut butter one.

We made it back to the car with a round trip total of 2 hours and 15 minutes. This hike could obviously be done much quicker without my 10 year old...but in all fairness, we all stopped often to look at the scenery (and rest). At one clearing, there were weird plastic cylinders that were protecting seedling spruce trees. We were guessing that a slide had occurred to create the clearing and the Land Conservancy is trying to fill the area back by protecting these little guys. It wasn't until we were on our way back that we noticed that in this clearing is a good size patch of Forget-Me-Knots. A favorite of Jen's late mother-in-law, who was also my great aunt. Was this a little whisper from her?

The slightest thing happened today that I am grateful for....when Reagan signed us out, she wrote thank you.

nightmare marketing

2009-04-27T23:28:00.002-04:00

brilliant marketing

2009-04-27T18:13:00.000-04:00

I am pretty sure the new words of encouragement written on gatorade bottles was thought up specifically to swindle baseball moms. It has worked. I am now obsessed with which gatorade bottle to buy before Greg's games. I used to choose it by color, since he is colorblind- but now I have convinced myself that I can communicate with him during a game through his gatorade. Sort of like a subliminal message. He needs to be trained when he gets in a jam....Look at the bottle Greg....see, mom doesn't have to embarass you by yelling be tough...you can just look down and read what I want you to do. Some of the other choices, which is why I must strategically purchase the drink are; BRING IT, NO EXCUSES, SHINE ON and FOCUS. I don't forsee needing the Shine On sentiment...Ever...but I like the Bring it (for when he is pitching) and the Be Tough (for everything else) When he was 9 years old and pitched his little league team to a tournament title he was having trouble hitting. I called him over to me and told him quite emphatically "you ARE a HITTER! HIT that ball" and....he hit a homerun! So gatorade people....you have me hooked, but I need a bottle that says You Are A Hitter. By Monday.....Please.

*Update: Dan picked any old Gatorade bottle today for Greg's game.....I think it said G2 on it. Greg decided to bat Lefty (he's working on being a switchhitter) and he hit a double from the left side. Yayyyyy!!! The G2 must mean..Greg- 2 bagger. This is where superstition enters the game of baseball.

dogs and dan on hadley

2009-04-24T20:46:00.006-04:00

Dan and I had a rare day off together. just us and the canine kids today! First of all, Dan has been on a healthy eating plan since January. A resolution thing that he consistently followed on his own for a few months until he joined a nutrition center 5 weeks ago. No plan works without being more active, so we have been walking at night after work. During Wednesday's walk, he asked if I thought he was ready for a mountain. I told him we should find out on Friday by doing Hadley Mountain. OMG, I know, Hadley AGAIN? But this mountain is so close to home and it's a cheap ride to a great hike, when I don't have enough time to spend 2-3 hours on the road getting to a trailhead. So what if my obituary reads "in addition to becoming a 46er, she climbed Hadley 150 times". I am beginning to feel that it is a different hike everytime I do it. And besides, Dan was with me and that is different! This was also Shadow's return to hiking following surgery and it was Hudson's debut climb. In the 13 days since I last made this climb, the yellow trout flowers and pinstripe star flowers have bloomed. AND, there are going to be at least half million trilliums blossomed very soon! Triliums excite me, they are a definite favorite and a real treat to look at in the middle of the forest. I may have to get up there again in about a month just to see them. My cousin, Janie, will go with me when she gets here.

We got to the trailhead at 8:45 not knowing what to expect with Hudson. Would we have to carry him a lot? Would he stay with us? Would we have to put him on the leash? Well, this little guy carried his 2 pound self all the way up the mountain. The few times that we tried to carry him to give him a breather, he was just itching to get back down on his own 4 feet. He stayed with us and followed commands like he had already been through puppy class. Shadow didn't have any trouble. He laid in the mud on the way down to cool off and got really tired near the end but other than some slow moving this evening, overall he did wonderfully for 9 years old. We got to the summit at 10:45 and spent at least a half hour on top. It was so sunny and warm and we had the near windless top of the mountain to ourselves. After a nice lunch break (hudson likes apples and bread crust) we started back down. We met some people on their way up and of course they all could not believe how little hudson is and that he was hiking. One lady told us that her son has a shih tzu who hikes 12 miles at a rip. We just might have to get a front puppy carrier for longer trips than today's 4 roundtrip miles. Although, I don't think he would stand for it. I remarked during the hike that hudson certainly is not one of those yorkies who will prefer perfectly coiffed hair and sitting on a satin pillow all day. He wants to be out there running with the big dogs!

Oh yeah and Dan- he had a great time. He stayed with me, I didn't have to leash him and he actually appeared to need less breaks than me. Even though he is not my official 46er hiking partner, he has not ruled out doing a couple more high peaks with me. We have climbed Buck, Black, Crane, Cascade, Porter and now Hadley together. I bet it won't be his first and only trip. We were back at the car by 12:20pm. A perfectly spent vacation day.

ten

2009-04-23T08:01:00.002-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REAGAN

earth day.

2009-04-22T00:01:00.004-04:00

This is the waterfall behind my house. Rarely is it spilling over this completely. What a treat it was to see during our first canoe trail walk of the season. The trail is still a little wet, but Hudson negotiated it like a champ. So did my husband. I will make him into a hiker yet (insert wicked witch laugh). As we were walking I wondered what day this week was designated earth day. In the past we have done a side of the road garbage cleanup on earth day. We'll have to fit that into the weekend. The water fall is at the site of the now closed International Paper Company. Talk about cleaning up the environment. Since the mill closed I am sure there are far less pollutants going into the air directly above my house. So many people in the neighboring community have fought for new industry to come to this site to create jobs and tax revenue. I on the other hand am thankful for the people who have fought hard to keep trash plants and other not so environmentally friendly businesses out of my backyard.

I plan to continue carpooling to work as one of my efforts to reduce impact on the planet. How about you?

Game Face

2009-04-20T22:16:00.004-04:00

Nothing better than a pitcher enjoying his outing. He had 10 strikeouts in 4 innings. Who knows how many more batters he could have sat down.

The big people had to go and ruin it for the kids. We lost the game by forfeit after a homerun for our team was called foul, our coach questioned the call and the umpires totally lost their marbles after the parent of the home run hitter voiced his discontent...very inappropriately of course. I hope the umps grow some thicker skin before their next game. Which..... tell me is not thursday- when we get to try again. And hey...yeah you...crazy baseball father! Your kid might have been robbed of a homerun...but my kid was robbed of his first win this season as a pitcher. Grow up.
Awesome Job Greg!!

mix tape assignment

2009-04-16T21:23:00.006-04:00

If you have wondered about the read along badge at the right of the screen, let me explain. Months ago I came across a blog by Dr. Brene Brown, who is the author of the book I thought it was just me (but it isn't). I thought it looked like material I would be interested in but it was not found easily in the bookstore and I procrastinated ordering it from the internet. However, when the author inquired about whether her blog followers would like to participate in a read along, I thought it would be a cool thing to do. What a useful aspect of the internet. She is using the feedback to develop a workbook to go along with the original book. I devoured the first half of the book before the read along even began. What first interested me in the book was a snippet from the back cover that said "shaming people does not create the desire to change". I thought this information would be helpful to my line of work. What I have realized is this book is a priceless companion for anyone who wants to be a better listener and friend, practice empathy and compassion in everyday life and teach their children to be authentic individuals. The author is doing podcast lectures for each chapter. I consider it a free alternative to taking an actual class from this professor from the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Dr. Brown advocates practicing self care and self kindness as part of her plan for being resilient against triggers of shame that we encounter almost daily. So far we have had two "homework assignments". The second assignment was for us to make a mix tape of music that inspires us to practice self-kindness, reminds us that we're not alone and helps us stay mindful about our feelings and what is important to us. I think the possibilities are endless but my tape is a good representation of my feel good music with a twinge of consideration for humanity thrown in. Yippee for the brand new Dave Matthews song ~ google the lyrics if you need to. Whew...not an easy assignment. I am urging all of you to at least take a look at her blog. It could be just what you need.

/>

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

my heart is standing on the pitcher's mound

2009-04-15T22:32:00.007-04:00

This is the picture I had in my head as I watched my son's first baseball game this season. His coach's wife was at the game with their two year old. This picture of Greg was taken when his father was coaching the modified team at the school he now plays for. Of course coach's wife had to jump up repeatedly to play catch with her little guy in addition to answering all kinds of inquiries. One of which was...."is derek out there?" Her answer: "No, derek only plays on TV". Realizing he had just wondered if derek jeter might be on the field, I chuckled at how very much into baseball he is. Reminded me of earlier times with Greg. I wanted to warn this mom that she should relish that she gets to be his catcher....for now. Does she realize how quickly the time will come that she will be incredibly scared to catch his fast ball?

Just wait until she sees how trying some of the little league days can be...............

That there will come a time that she'll miss the days when she had to go ON the field with him.....and unbelievably her son might get to an age where he doesn't even want to her to yell words of encouragment.... but he still wants her THERE!?

What happened to this cute little guy?????

He became this handsome, confident young man...

whom the coach thinks was taught to pitch very well by his father and grandfather. More importantly, the coach told us today that our son is the kind of kid that coaches want to coach......

A co-worker and I have a running joke when I complain about the trials of raising a teenage boy......he let's me get just so far and then says "you had him". Ahhh, the perspective of a child-less-by-choice person....but yes, I had him. And today was one of the thousands of proud moments I will have being his mom.

Making the decision to have a child is momentous.

It is to decide forever to have your heart

go walking around outside your body.”

~Elizabeth Stone

happy anniversary adirondack almanack

2009-04-13T22:20:00.002-04:00

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the very informative adirondack almanack blog. They recently started doing a weekly blogger roundup, where they highlight some of the interesting stories that are blogged about by those of us who spend time inside the blue line of the adirondack park. A couple of my posts have been linked to by the almanack site. It is quite obvious when I am chosen because my hit counter goes much wilder than usual. If I want to know what is going on in my favorite little part of the world, the adirondack almanack is the first place I check. Keep up the good work and thank you for giving us little guys a plug once in a while.

easter on the mountain

2009-04-12T14:03:00.007-04:00

My original idea for Easter Sunday was to meet Sherilee for dinner halfway to NYC. Dan was next in line to be stuck with overtime at work, so when he said he didn't mind if I went even if he wasn't stuck, I began dreaming up the next plan. Maybe we could meet in the Catskills and do a fire tower hike. Well, Reagan would have none of this. She said, "It's Easter! Why would you go hiking?" I told her that because it was Easter, I would like to go hiking. Any plan of going south for a hike or meeting Sherilee dissolved at that moment. Of course, she wants to be with the little cousins and participate in the easter egg hunt. I can't say as I blame her, but that didn't stop me from trying to persuade her into thinking that cooking a backpacker meal at the top of a mountain would be an awesome Easter Dinner. It's not that she intended to go to sunday school. Couldn't we have our own sermon on the mount?Mmm....Nope. So, my hopes for a hike dwindled to the good old stand-by. Hadley Mountain. I didn't even take my camera this time, thinking how many pictures of Hadley Mountain do I need. Well, of course there were several points of the hike that I wished I had brought it. We (my father of course) got to the trailhead at 8:00 and were on the trail at 8:10. It seemed very cold (about 35 degrees) but of course after 10 minutes we were warmed up and removing layers. There was very little snow left in the woods, the trail was wet- the bare rock slabs were wet and slightly frozen over with the thinnest bit of ice. Where the trail would be muddy, it was frozen mud so it didn't present any problems. Even in warmer weather, there would be enough climbing area to avoid the mud. We decided to bushwack a little ways to cut off a part of the trail that cuts back from the actual direction of the summit. It was tough but also helped avoid another icy spot of trail. We made it to one of the first lookouts and spent some time standing on its cliff, in the sunshine. It was pretty clear and even in the stage of the seasons where we are lacking any type of color or lush green- the view was pretty. Blue sky and puffy clouds are always nice to look at. On to the summit which was very windy and extremely cold. My jacketless/gloveless/hatless father did not wish to linger when I suggested we head back down. The trip down was easy, as most of the ice was gone from the bare rock. A dark colored german shephard that we met gave us a little start. Part of the brain that scans for danger alerted my father to the possibility of a coyote and I of course went straight to thinking bear. He was friendly and made me smile as I watched him loping along up the trail. Dogs are so happy to be hiking. I hope shadow will be able to participate soon. It had been a while since I did this trail without kids. I realized that all the time I thought we took breaks for them, was actually breaks that I too must have needed. This was definitely a hike that provided some much needed after winter conditioning if we are going to be in shape to tackle a high peak in a few (maybe several) weeks. Tabletop is first on the list. We were back at the car in three hours and we enjoyed looking at the old fashioned maple syrup operation on the way out. This was when I wished I had the camera. The old tin buckets hanging from the Maple trees would have made a cool picture. Photo credit goes to Mountain Visions Photography

Nick Adenhart* Killed by a Repeat DWI Offender

2009-04-11T13:25:00.006-04:00

"You better come here, because something special is going to happen," Nick told his father, according to agent Scott Boras.....the angels were lurking in the outfield Wednesday night, allowing the rookie pitcher to have his special moment in the spotlight before a drunk driver would take it all away from him and his family. This 22 year old baseball player was first and foremost his parent's awesome and precious son. To get to that level of baseball, you know that he and his mom and dad spent a WHOLE LOT of quality time together. In the backyard, in the car and at 100's of baseball fields. I Hope those memories will bring some comfort.

A 22-year-old man was charged with three murder counts and drunken driving Friday in the crash that killed Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others.

"At the time of the crash, Mr. Gallo's blood-alcohol content is estimated to be almost three times the legal limit," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
Adenhart died at a hospital, hours after pitching six scoreless innings in his season debut against Oakland.

"This Angel and his two friends were too young to be sent to heaven but the defendant selfishly and recklessly got behind the wheel after getting drunk.

Gallo also was charged with driving under the influence causing injury, and driving with a blood-alcohol level over .08 percent causing injury with a sentencing enhancement that he personally inflicted great bodily injury. In addition, he was charged with fleeing the scene of a traffic accident causing death or injury.

First reports of this accident stated that the driver was without a license at the time of the accident due to a previous DWI offense. It is for this very reason that I feel compelled to prophesize the future of the DWI offenders I work with. This guy selfishly needed MORE convincing that he has a problem with alcohol. If somebody had "played the tape" forward for him, I wonder if knowing he would end up killing an up and coming star baseball pitcher would have made a difference. I hope this guy ends up running self help meetings in Prison- cause he's gonna be there a while. Will any of them be listening?

i think she prefers original regan as opposed to "big" regan

2009-04-08T21:22:00.008-04:00

Today brought random thoughts of my grandfather; it is his birthday. We used to joke that winter was not over until there were at least a few flakes in the air on the 8th of April. Today was no different, there was more than a few snowflakes swirling about. It made me smile.

And Then........

Coincidentally, a gift arrived for me today from an old friend. We reconnected recently thanks to facebook. Our history: We met second semester, freshman year of college. We really hit it off. We had weird similarities but were very different in a lot of ways too. She taught me a lot of cool stuff. I was thrilled that her friendship made me feel more like connecting to the whole college experience. Then I found out she would not be able to return to the school in the fall for sophomore year. I was crushed. She is from Rhode Island, but we made a real effort to remain close. She visited a few weekends throughout the college years. She was in my wedding. We had our sons about 6 months apart. We continued to visit back and forth for a couple of years, making family trips out of visits. She went through a divorce. We tried to stay in touch. The last time I talked to her was when I told her I named my daughter after her. Almost ten years passed, but not without thoughts of what a special person she had been to me. A few months ago, I literally jumped out of my computer chair in delight that I had found her once again. It took only a few emails to catch up on the kids, work, partners and the things that 10 years of life experience has taught us both. I believe we cross paths with the people in our lives for a reason. Although it seemed that our "reason" may have been brief and over in 1999.....we have made it back to each other and I am super grateful for the rekindle of our friendship. Regan sent me a new journal, which is sooooooo like her. She is the one who inspired me to buy the blank, cloth covered journal that I have been writing meaningful poems and quotes in for the past 18 years. In fact, I paraphrased the last few conversations I had with my grandfather in that journal, so that I wouldn't forget what he said to me. So today, I celebrate my grandfather's birthday and the renewal of the gift of friendship. Just like old times, the journal did not come to me blank. She stickered it up and put her own fanciness on the dedication-to-me page. She also bought herself the same journal and stashed handwritten pieces of paper with some of her journal thoughts inside of my pages. This time it is not a blank journal, it is a journal constructed to bring out creative thought. It's a place to "dream while awake" and "live out loud". She sent markers too because this is not a book for plain old pen.

Original regan always wrote her name with lower case letters (renee reminded me of regan in that sense) and she has beautiful, unique handwriting. In these times of electronic mail, I have to say that seeing her actual handwriting on the notes in the book took me back in time almost the way a song does....It is true handwritten notes are more meaningful. I am looking forward to cultivating our renewed friendship and can't help but feel blessed when I think of how the few very meaningful friendships I have, compliment my life.

she usually sends help...

2009-04-05T21:30:00.008-04:00

.....being a communications officer and dispatcher of emergency services, but today she was on the receiving end.
Maureen Rambone, a Warren County Sheriff's Office 911 dispatcher, sat at work this last week in front of an array of computer monitors, taking one urgent call after another. After calming down a frantic mother who thought she had lost her youngster, Rambone — a resident of Adirondack — reflected on her work and life."I love my work and I'm lucky, the way things are, to have such a good job," she said. Rambone is cheery and enthusiastic despite her daunting challenge — she's halfway through her first round of many scheduled chemotherapy treatments for stomach cancer, which was diagnosed in mid-January as having advanced to Stage 4.

Pausing from taking calls, Rambone said she is determined to keep working despite the pain and nausea that routinely follow the treatments."I can't take much time off from my job because maintaining my health insurance is extremely important," Rambone said. "I have a choice — come to work sometimes sick as hell or take time off, then be faced with a stack of bills I can't pay."To date, the county and co-workers have been giving her the workplace support and encouragement she needs, she said."The way people have pulled through for me is unbelievable," she said. "My co-workers giving me support, my neighbors stopping by and bringing dinners over, people offering rides, or just sitting and visiting — it's all wonderful."Rambone will likely be soon experiencing an outpouring of support and encouragement from all over the area, as the county Sheriff's Office employees host a public fundraiser dinner to help Rambone pay her ever-escalating medical and transportation bills.

We attended her spaghetti dinner fundraiser this evening in Chestertown. She was on hand for the 4 hour event, greeting and thanking people for their attendance. I admire her determination to continue working as she fights stomach cancer. As we were being introduced, my daughter was hesitant because said she was afraid she would have to hug her as all the people before us had done. After the not-so-awkward hugging moment, my daughter said "it felt good". That sums up the whole evening.

one more plug for prevention

2009-03-30T17:20:00.003-04:00

I was wondering how to end the month of Colon Cancer Awareness when I received an email with this quote......

"Every time I meet a tree, if I am truly awake, I stand in awe before it. I listen to its voice, a silent sermon moving me to the depths, touching my heart, and stirring up within my soul a yearning to give my all."-Macrina Wiederkehr, A Tree Full of Angels (1988)
This reminded me of my grandfather, probably because of his love of gardening and his land. I think whether he knew it or not this was how he tended his spirit. The author of the quote encourages us to look for spirituality in ordinary everyday things. I feel closest to my grandfather when I spend time in nature....and at the same time it touches my heart.

Being able to blog about Colon Cancer Prevention has also tended my spirit and hopefully, a few of you have been inspired to schedule a colonoscopy.

"I'll take some of that"

2009-03-19T21:14:00.003-04:00

Hudson and Shadow eat together side by side, but Hudson usually becomes distracted by Shadow and his tall dish. He goes over and waits for Shadow to drop a few pieces of food and then eats them off the floor while standing directly underneath Shadow's belly. Hudson then stands and stares up at the dish. I wonder if he knows he will never be tall enough to steal Shadow's food?

Avalanche Pass

2009-03-16T23:23:00.005-04:00

I wish I could bottle the feeling I get when I turn down the road to the Adirondack Loj and share it with people who think there needs to be a religious connection to spirituality. When I first see this view, and continue driving toward it's enormity, I take in it's awesome beauty, and actually experience an awakening of my spirit. If I could describe it I would say it is a rush of excitement and love and thankfulness all wrapped into one moment that is truly spritual. This feeling can last a second, a few minutes or longer if you allow yourself to be in it and focus on the powerful feeling that is greater than everything else...for that moment. Stress and strain of daily life is checked at the invisible door that opens into the peaceful easy feeling of the mountains as I leave route 73 in Lake Placid.

I hiked through Avalanche Pass and to the frozen shores of Avalanche Lake with my father on Sunday. We have talked about doing it for months and it appeared that we might not be able to get to it this winter. I recall standing on the top of Algonquin last September, looking down on the sparkling deep blue water of Avalanche Lake and feeling that it was a must do trip for the "list". My list. There is a mystical pull to this destination. It is one of the most unusual places in the Adirondacks. It is also one that is discernible from many of the summits.

The trail was packed down and icy from the parking area to Marcy Dam. We had yaktrax attached to our boots and did just fine with only their slight grip. There was no post holing and no slip sliding. We made it to the Dam in about an hour. It was so warm and sunny that we lingered here for about 15 minutes. It was Noon, so I ate one of my sandwiches. Totally against my better judgement~ I could not resist taking a picture and texting it to my friend Sheri who was busily working away this beautiful day in NYC. She quickly texted back that she wished she was with me. Me too, I told her. Off we went to make our way up the Marcy Brook Trail. The water was running, thanks to the thawing, and provided the nice babble of water that adds so much to the relaxation of hiking. We brought our weekend packs because they are big enough to hold our snowshoes. You are supposed to have them with you (read: on) during the winter months. However, the trail being so packed down enabled us to make an easy decision that we preferred not to use them. We made good time on this fairly level, smooth trail with it's rocks all snowed in. Apparently, there are ladders to0. We only saw the very top rungs of one ladder, a hint at how much snow there really still is on the trail. We made it the 2 miles past Marcy Dam to the Pass in less than 2 hours. The sky was indigo blue and cloudless. I hiked in fleece pants and a long sleeve underarmour t-shirt. No hat and no gloves the entire day. It was like early summer, but with snow still covering the ground, and no bugs. The first clue that you are at the Pass is that you break over the top of a long ascent and suddenly you are looking at one of the slides of Colden. Very Close up.

All of a sudden, I realized why it is named "avalanche" pass. I got a little panicky thinking about the possibility of melting ice or snow giving way in this very narrow area of trail. I could hear dripping and popping and an occasional tumble of falling ice and snowballs. Needless to say, I moved quickly and snapped photos even quicker. About 5 minutes later, after a short descent, the narrow pass opens into Avalanche Lake. The temperature on the backpack thermometer registered 70 degrees in the sun as we ate lunch on some rocks facing the lake. We spent about 25 minutes soaking up the view and the warmth and appreciating the moment. There was no wind, no clouds and the 10 or so other people that we saw were very far across the lake from us. They were seen but not heard. Phew! I am not big on sharing conversation with the other hikers at this particular moment. Actually, it annoys me when I have to overhear conversations about current events or medical issues or anything else for that matter. I think it negates the calming feeling. Avalanche Lake doesn't care about the latest hype and that moment, neither do I. Don't get me wrong, I am all for being pleasant and even helpful....on the trail. Just don't walk 10 paces behind me and loudly examine the meaning of your life thus far. That HAS happened to me, no exaggeration.

We packed back up and reluctantly, as always started back for the parking area. Another quick trip through the narrow cliffs of the pass. We had seen a ranger who politely asked us to wear the snowshoes on our way out. He said they were trying to protect the trail in order to keep it ski-able. Since we chose to ignore him, I have to say, I spent a small amount of the return trip worrying about him jumping out of the woods and reprimanding me for not having them on. I think because if I were a ranger, I would totally do that to people. Good thing I am not a ranger.
On the way back we checked out 2 of the 3 lean to's. One had a journal and we spent some time reading the entries. We got our answer about the prevalance of bears in this area that is too- close-to-marcy-dam-to-not- have-problems. Sure enough several entries mentioned a bear with a tracking collar passing through, ripping apart their "bag", ignoring their "canisters", sniffing around, etc. NOPE, Corin and Mark will NOT be camping here.
The hot sun had further melted the ice on the trail between the dam and the lot. The last mile of the trek put us on slushy snow that made it seem like we were hiking in beach sand. I am sure that is what has lent itself to the strange soreness I have now felt for 2 days. Not to mention that this was our first, nearly 10 mile hike, in 4 months.

I very much liked seeing the flowed lands in summertime after our winter visit there. I feel the same about this area. Hopefully, I will be able to revisit Avalanche Lake to get the full effect of the cliffs meeting the water. Most likely it will occur on the day we plan to head up Mt. Colden. Which will be soon.

the real vet

2009-03-13T23:29:00.005-04:00

We had our appointment this evening with our new vet (who will be referred to as the real vet from here on out). Hudson was the scheduled patient, but Dr. Jolie graciously saw Shadow as well. The reason for this is she thinks the conclusion that can be drawn from Hudson's terrible itching skin is that he has cheyletiella mites. These mites are commonly seen in 2-8 week old puppies and are often undiagnosed as a cause of itching. Of course, I am concerned that we obviously inherited this infection from his first home. I am wondering about the sibling puppies and if they are infected as well. Because Shadow was waiting in the car, the real vet was willing to see him to make sure he was not also infected. She doesn't think so, but ended up giving Shadow a FULL initial wellness visit while we were there.

She first wanted to know what food we were feeding Hudson and had print outs of ingredient lists of several types of food. She explained to us that any type of wheat gluten, corn meal and by-products were not present in any type of QUALITY food. She said the ingrediants in your dogs food should read like the food in supermarkets. We are sure the Orijen puppy food is good for Hudson. What we found out was that the Beneful we feed Shadow has the worst ingredients. We are in the process of switching him to "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover" Food. It is about $7 more per bag than the Beneful. The Chicken Soup brand was one that the real vet used as an example of good ingredients.

It turns out that the real vet schedules her patients for half hour visits. She explained to us that many vets utilize a 15 minute patient schedule. She said there is no way she can do her job that quickly. She was not kidding. We happened to be the last appointment for the whole week and therefore, she spent 2 hours with us. Real Vet painstakingly went over Hudson's coat, taking samples of skin cells and debris from his coat and studying them under a microscope. All with us in the room. Her technician was just as knowledgeable and offered suggestions to the real vet from their past experiences with like cases. She decided to treat Hudson with Ivermectin orally, which after 6 weeks, cured another little guy in the past. She also provided a medicated shampoo for us to use. Hudson weighs 1 pound and 3 ounces now. His staples were removed while I held him in my arms and not a peep was made. Not from him and not from Reagan. This real vet included Reagan in the conversation and often spoke directly to her. She commented on how mature she was for 4th grade. Funny, we were about 40 minutes in and no one had been traumatized as of yet. Reagan and I joked that it would take 100 Hudsons to equal the 107 pounds of Shadow. Somebody needs to go hiking :)

When it was Shadow's turn, of course he was a bit hyper and vocal. The real vet didn't mind. She acted like she actually liked him. She wasn't rushing at all. She felt him all over. She talked to him. She asked lots of questions about his 9 year history of skin problems. The real vet decided to test his thyroid, as this could be reason for his very oily, flaky, reddened skin. Pretend vet never did anything except give him cortisone, benedryl or antibiotics. We left with a medicated shampoo for Shadow as well, which will take care of his oily coat for now, while we wait for the blood work results. Umm...get this....the tech was kneeling, hugging shadow around the neck and talking softly to him while the real vet was sitting on the floor in front of Shadow drawing his blood. It was quiet and uneventful. They took the time to clean his ears too because they were particularly gunky~ another sign of a thyroid condition. I am pretty sure seeing this done will prevent Reagan from pursuing a veterinary profession. We decided that Shadow had even more earwax than her brother (he asks every morning on the way to school if his ears are "fine").

Interestingly, she bills once per year for a wellness checkup and any other visit is free. You don't pay for other office visits, only the shots or medication that is given and prescribed. Dr. Jolie uses this system, because she doesn't want people to hesitate to bring their pets for re-checks and follow ups. They scheduled us for a two week appointment before we left. She will call with Shadow's blood work results prior to that.

Now that, people, is what I expect from a professional who is supposed to be in the business to take care of animals~not harm and traumatize them along with the littlest of yorkie owners. This has been a long time coming. I feel happiest that Shadow will be better taken care of by a real vet in his golden (no pun intended) years.

give a shout if you've already been screened!

2009-03-09T22:52:00.002-04:00

Polyps or No Polyps?

when i look to the sky

2009-03-08T17:17:00.002-04:00

a friend of the family, Shawn Kelly, a DJ for 95.9 played this on the air for my grandfather. just before his funeral. it became a bit of a theme song over the year that followed. i like to listen to it every once in a while. especially today.

gentle on my mind

2009-03-06T23:11:00.003-05:00

I have a sort of love hate relationship with the months of February and March because they denote the last few weeks of time spent with my grandfather before he slipped peacefully away from us at the end of his courageous tour of duty (more than a battle) with cancer. He was first diagnosed with Colon Cancer in 2003. He had surgery to remove a very large tumor and then took two courses of chemotherapy to reduce the risk of recurrence in the colon and elsewhere. He didn't like the way it made him feel. Not that he ever complained or appeared sickened by it. He just decided that he would not take a third round, explaining to us that the doctors had told him "they got it".

We all spent the next two years sharing his enthusiasm for gardening and the plain old family time that no one took for granted anymore. Rarely did we give the cancer a second thought. By this time both he and my grandmother had licked different types of cancer. We were home free. Not.So.Fast. In early January 2005 he began having severe pain in his side. Ironically, it was identical to the pain his sister in law was experiencing. Shortly after her diagnosis of liver cancer, it was confirmed that he too had liver cancer that was a result of the colon cancer metastasizing there. He quickly became jaundice and the pain was severe enough to send the strongest 81 year old I've ever known, to the hospital. That was February 4th of 2005. The cancer doctors jumped into full swing, however the cancer was blocking a duct of his liver. They could not operate and they could not give chemo until his bilirubin levels were at a much lower level because his liver would not be able to metabolize the chemo and it would do a lot of harm and no good. So, my grandfather spent 3 weeks in the hospital WAITING for the levels to come down. We spent together time and alone time with him at the hospital. My family literally took over the hospital family room for 3 consecutive sundays in order to continue our traditional coffee and donuts. My sister's little girl was 4 weeks old and he was more interested in her than the donuts. She learned to "talk" to her old gramp way ahead of schedule...like she knew if she was going to get her chance she had better get at it. The writing on the wall became more and more obvious. He was not getting better. Nor was he going to. The doctors kept plugging away, keeping hope alive in all of us. The nurses (read~angels) were the brave souls who finally confirmed our fears and encouraged us to talk to the doctors. We found that the doctors who battle cancer WILL NOT STOP the battle until the patient or the family suggests that possibly they've done all they can. And why wouldn't they. Who wants to be the one who extinguishes hope and instills the reality of a NO WIN, truly life or death situation for people who love each other. The only way you can wrap your head around believing such an awful truth is if you come to the conclusion on your own or as a family. And this cannot happen, until you have watched an entire staff of specialists work what you hope is going to end in a miracle. In our case, my grandfather's case, the miracle was in the gifts we were given after he decided he wanted to be home. Before he left the hospital, he asked each of his nurses to sit with him while he told them how important their work is and how amazing each of them was to him during his prolonged hospital stay. He quietly grieved his own impending death and outwardly gave the most graceful end of life performance. His home was filled with brave visitors, who all knew they were coming to say goodbye. They prayed with him, made amends if they needed to and all heard positive messages from the man who had always seen and praised the good in all of us. Our last week with him was no different. He was the kind and gentle man he had been his whole life. We watched mets baseball spring training, my sister's basketball game tapes, cooked good food, searched out vanilla peanut butter ice cream of which he ate just enough to taste, he talked about regular stuff and he talked about the really important stuff, mostly with his daughters. Three of them. He told my grandmother how beautiful she was each time she walked in the room and made a fuss over the kids just as he always did. We listened to his old records and he told us which were his favorites and why. We played dice while he still could. He encouraged everyone to have a colonoscopy. He commented on the beauty of the early morning sun rising over his fields. I was lucky enough to be one of the people holding his hand as he passed on...I can't think of a better gift from god. As my mother urged him to run to greet his mother, a warm, peaceful feeling swept through me and remained an entity in that room for a measurable amount of time. It was real and precious. I can still feel it if I sit quietly enough and really remember. Cancer is A LOT of things sad. But it did allow a perfect, seemingly orchestrated, good-bye. Grampa began his next journey, absolutely knowing how loved and important he was to all of us. We'll be looking for him on Sunday...the 4th anniversary of his passing and my grandmother's 84th birthday.

New Vet

2009-03-05T22:08:00.003-05:00

I made the switch today. The new vet clinic first told me they have a waiting list, but when I mentioned my breeder friend by name, they got Hudson and Shadow immediately in as patients. Hudson will get his staples out at the new vet on March 13th. They tried to calm me by saying that sometimes these things happen, because puppies are so squirmy. Their opinion was that the vet should have had a tech in the room helping to hold the puppy rather than the owner (dan). They agreed that Hudson should continue on the antibiotics now that he has a wound. The receptionist explained that when I arrive for the first appointment they will have me sign releases for the records from the previous vet. Upon further consideration and urging from my people (blogger friends etc), I have decided to stop in at the vet and pick up shadow's medical records and whatever couple of pages they now have on Hudson. While I am there, I am going to demand that they refund me at least what it will now cost me at the new vet for them to remove the staples. Probably $40.00. How that goes will determine............. how large a can of whup-ass I open up on them. Stay tuned.

Unnecessary Roughness

2009-03-04T21:42:00.003-05:00

This little guy had his second vet appointment today. We were establishing him as a patient with the vet we have always used for shadow. Note that I said the vet we have always used for shadow, not the vet we LOVE for shadow. There is a husband/wife team of doctors at our vet clinic (which will remain nameless, but not because I want to protect it). We like the wife but the husband usually has NO bedside manner with the pets and we try to avoid him. Having quickly made the appointment during my workday, I failed to request the wife. Dan and Reagan were on duty today to bring Hudson for his appointment, which was to include his second round of shots and a look at his itchy skin. The breeder had taken him with his siblings to their first appointment for the initial shots and had previously had their flaky skin tested for anything more problematic that just plain dryness. 3 weeks ago the skin condition was nothing and today upon recheck.....the vet SLICED our puppy open trying to obtain a "scraping" of the dryness. Hudson required 2 STAPLES to close the doctor inflicted wound...STAPLES..because his skin is so thin that regular stitches wouldn't hold the cut closed. Needless to say, Reagan is completely traumatized by SEEING this as it occurred to her precious baby and then apparently witnessing the vet stapling him closed which prompted much yelping from him. In case you are wondering the doctor did give the crying Reagan a half hearted apology for what he had done. The breeder happened to call our house about an hour after this ordeal to remind us about a party this weekend that we are attending and Reagan could barely explain to her what had happened. When I got on the phone with her she was LIVID. She had tried desperately to encourage us to switch to the vet she uses, but we were hesitant because of the distance and therefore inconvenience. She asked what the heck this guy was thinking, using any kind of scalpel next to a little yorkie to scrape skin. She explained that her vet had merely parted the puppy's skin and used a piece of tape to remove skin cells which she then viewed under a microscope to determine that he did not have a skin disease or illness that required medication. Our so called "vet" has recently given up his equine practice....I think he thought he was still working on a horse rather than a 1.4 pound dog. Where is the common sense when you are working on a fidgety, little, fragile yorkie. This idiot is never getting his hands on Hudson again. Oh, yeah....we left with a wounded animal and PAID $67.00 for the pain and suffering of Hudson and a completely hysterical Reagan. At the very least he could have comp'd the visit. A longer drive to Saratoga is in order and the breeder even offered to help us in a pinch if we ever needed her to drive him there. Now we can just hope that he heals without issue. He is on antibiotics and is supposed to return in 10 days to have the staples removed. The new Vet will remove the staples....I'll be calling them in the morning. Shadow's coming too.

2009-03-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

The BodyGuard

2009-03-02T21:00:00.004-05:00

The tough girl in the brown leather is Sherilee, the blonde is her boss.
STEP AWAY FROM THE BILLIONAIRE AND NO ONE GETS HURT......

"I thought she was a stripper," said Costa, a helicopter pilot from Tulare, Calif., before he found out that the woman was Lynn Tilton, the owner of one of the nation's largest helicopter makers."Very cool," Costa said in disbelief. "You know she brought that company back from the brink of destruction. She's our rock star."

My friend Sherilee wears alot of hats for the company she works for, but this takes the cake. Here she is on the front page of the LA Times Business Section. She does EVERYTHING for this woman, including hair and makeup (not the extensions!!) when they travel and now it appears she is adding Body Guard to the job description. Go easy on that poor old guy, Sheri!

They have been at a helicopter show in California, they were recently in the Dominican Republic (where they had real bodyguards and met Sammy Sosa) and they are due to go to the middle east soon. As we were laughing about this photo she quickly said she had to go. Apparently there was a 9:00pm staff meeting. Yeah, she said the full office was still there at work. NOT because of the snow they got in NYC today either. No wonder reality show producers are calling from LA. My 8x10 autographed glossy is in the mail.

Bald Mountain * Rondaxe Fire Tower Hike

2009-03-01T22:52:00.007-05:00

With only the promise of a mostly cloudy sky, my father and I set out to snowshoe up Bald Mountain to bag another fire tower. We got on the road at 9:30am for the 2 hour drive northwest to Rondaxe Road which is situated about 5 miles out of Eagle Bay but before Old Forge on Route 28. The road is on the right and very easily identified as there are several new and easy to read signs on route 28. Very unlike most of the other trailhead signs that are scattered along the route above Warrensburg. We slowed down and sometimes stopped at each brown and yellow trailhead sign on the way in order to read the destination of each. This took only a little extra time and it is nice to know where all these places are for future reference. With one stop at the Indian Lake Stewart's Shop, we made it to the large parking area at 12:10pm. The sign in register has a nice depiction of the history of the fire tower and the observers. We quickly decided that the trail, beaten down enough that it looked like a sidewalk, would allow us to hike with bare boots again! I was happy to be able to wear my regular hiking boots rather than my snowshoe winter boots. The roundtrip is only 2 miles. It seemed that the gentle up and down nature of the hike, coupled with about three areas that were semi-steep, went quickly. It really is an easy, quick hike. You are treated to open views at 3 locations on the way up, giving a beautiful reward for very little effort. For us, the unseasonable warmth was like heaven. The sun was HOT and it was 51 degrees in the sun at the summit. I stripped layers off until I was wearing only an underarmour long sleeve shirt along with my snowpants. For most of the hike I didn't wear my hat in order to further regulate my temperature. It was amazingly warm and felt great! The snow was slushy in spots which helped because had it been cold, there probably would have been more tricky ice to navigate. We reached the fire tower almost too quickly. I've never said that on Hadley Mountain. At the summit, there was NO wind and more SUN. It could not have been any more perfect. I wanted to climb the firetower before we ate our lunch. The tower is completely restored and felt very safe to climb. When I reached the cabin, I excitedly noticed a round table like map. Sure beats trying to hold a paper map that is flapping in the wind while you try to name the peaks and bodies of water you are looking at. After seeing this tower, I am all for donating to restoration projects. From the summit you have a 180 degree view from Southeast to Southwest. Nothing North. But from the tower obviously North is visible. Even though we had a clear cloudless day, none of the high peaks were distinguishable (not even Marcy which is supposed to be 55 miles North of the tower). Our unhurried pace got us to the summit in roughly 50 minutes. We spent at least 45 minutes soaking up the awesomeness of our Sunday (read:church service) hike. Back to the parking area in about 30 minutes. My father mentioned also climbing Bear Mountain, which was just down the road. However, that would have been an additional 3 hours of hiking and we still had the 2 hour drive home. We opted instead to take a drive up the Big Moose Road in Eagle Bay to take a peak at the snowed in Chapel that my father's parents and my sister got married in. Rarely do we get to see it in the winter except during a special trip such as this. All of the trailheads on the Big Moose Road offer large parking areas and again, very well maintained register booths with information or maps.

We saw lots of deer today. In fact, very near the summit today we saw a couple of deer tracks. It is unusual to see them so near the TOP of a mountain. We also saw evidence of rabbits on the summit. On the way home, when we got to Indian Lake and the Cedar River Road (which leads to the Wakely Mountain trailhead) we drove down it a ways to see if there were deer being fed. There were not. Which is good because you aren't supposed to, but bad because we wanted to see some that would not run away when we stopped to take their picture. We lost track after seeing 25 deer that were dining on bushes near the main roads rather than on our side trip. This was a special day. My family has a lot of roots in the Old Forge, Eagle Bay, Inlet, Stillwater and Beaver River area. My father's mother taught in Beaver River before transferring to the Inlet Common School. Like I said my grandparents and sister got married in the Big Moose Chapel, my grandfather played clarinet in a jazz band at the long gone Eagle Bay Hotel where they met. My family owned 1,000 acres of land in Eagle Bay and around Big Moose Lake but gave it up when property tax was instituted. They didn't believe in paying rent for property they already owned. Another great-great aunt married a man who was an Adirondack guide and they lived in a cabin in the woods, taking in boarders in the summer/fall, earning enough money to live all winter back there. Their name was Higby and the Cabin was off the now Higby Road, which intersects with Big Moose Road. These were the stories my father was sharing with me. I know only the very minimum of this family history. I do know that it can be easily found in the books God's Country and Big Moose Lake. Trips to this neck of the Adirondacks have a very nostalgic feeling for us. It was one of the best days yet. Course, there's no place I'd rather be, than hiking in the Adirondacks so they all rate pretty high.

March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month

2009-03-01T00:44:00.002-05:00

Having a Colonoscopy prevents Colon Cancer.

gettin some advertising

2009-02-27T21:34:00.005-05:00

Checking stats again today, I noticed an unusually high visitor count and it turns out that not only did the adirondack almanack feature my black mountain post in the weekly adirondack blogging roundup, but so did huletts landing blog. Thanks blogger friends!

good stuff

2009-02-24T23:17:00.005-05:00

This video was emailed to me by my father. Thanks for the heads up.
That is an Angel posing as a basketball coach.

flight tracker

2009-02-23T21:33:00.005-05:00

Reagan was off to Florida today for a special trip with her Dad to see her Grandpa and Grandma. She was so excited when she found out she was going and counted down the days until their departure. Last night, after she was all packed and it was time to go to bed, she started getting nervous. Butterflies. Reagan wrote out each hour she had left before take off and crossed each hour as they ticked off the clock. She did finally get to sleep after about an hour of talking, tossing, turning and more talking. She reminded me of this commercial. Who wouldn't be excited. She is off an extra week of school because her Dad doesn't have enough seniority to get school vacation weeks off from his job. And She gets to go to Disneyworld. It should be noted that the first time I went to Disney it was with her grandfather and grandmother. My in-laws took me during my trip down to see their place after they first bought it 15 years ago. I think it is pretty appropriate that they are now taking her. Reagan was even more nervous (read: almost crying) this morning. She got dressed quickly and scanned her bedroom for any other momentos she might want to take on the plane. The whole carry on bag contained stuff to keep her busy and snacks. Before they left for the airport at 4:30 am, Reagan crossed off the last hour and wrote, "I am leaving" on the paper. It was pretty hard to see her go. I hugged her extra tight, as she did me. Thank goodness for Dan's brother in law, as he saved me the early morning trip to Albany. I managed to get back to sleep for a couple of hours, brought Greg to school and got back in front of the computer to watch take off.

It is somewhat nerve wracking to sit and watch the little green airplane move further south on the map after each refresh of the screen. Flight Tracker also tells you in the margin how fast the plane is going (over 400 miles per hour) and how high the plane is (mostly cruising at 40,000 feet). I had to leave for work when they were about halfway there. I have flown with Reagan the one other time she has flown. I must say it is different to have your baby 40,000 feet in the air and NOT be with her. Interestingly, toward the end of the flight, the tracker showed that they had 10 miles to go and then listed the flight as tentatively landed. Tentatively is a strange choice of wording. The plane has either landed or it hasn't. Right? At the next refresh it showed that they landed 7 minutes before. I began calling Dan's cell phone and actually was able to make contact about 15 minutes after they landed. Phewwwww.

She proceeded to call me 2 times in 4 hours. I am happy that she wants to keep me in the loop. I asked her to journal her activities each night and if she was lucky, maybe grandpa would let her do her blogging from his laptop. Sure enough, she already wrote her first post.

Greg and I are enjoying some peace and quiet here at home. No fighting over who gets the couch or the TV and he hasn't fought me for the computer (yet). We ate dinner at his (our) friend's house and laughed hysterically together. We are now pigging out on cake and doritos. So what if we are wearing fleece and reagan is wearing shorts and a tank top. 75 degrees in Venice Florida today.

the searchers

2009-02-21T19:41:00.003-05:00

I am not usually interested in statistics. Although even after being really horrible at math in high school, I earned an A- in my college statistics course. I am however, interested in who reads my postings so I checked out the stats counter on the blog today just to see what type of searches lands random people at my site. Street and Nye are the entered search words in 5 of the last ten listed hits. Interestingly, someone from Lexington KY spent 1 minute and 42 seconds after searching for blackflies in the adirondacks- which was the main topic in the post about none other than Street and Nye mountains. Someone actually entered corins walk in the park blogspot for a search and someone else was looking for... like a walk in the park... searching for another meaning for easy? Random person looking for Tempanada and someone in the UK searching for Orijen Mountain found Orijen dog food. I curiously did a search for Orijen Mountain and found nothing..maybe that was a typo.

Why am I talking stats? Not much going on? Just a "laid back" day.

haircuts for me and reagan
a little shopping for her florida trip. Dan even got a couple things.
Cool Beans Coffee Shop for Sandwiches
which we brought to Jen and Mark's house
returned books to the library
dropped off money for dance recital costumes
Home to make Mac and Cheese for dinner
Packing and laundry for the lucky travelers

Now I can worry about the incoming snowstorm...I have one traveling back from the Empire Games in Lake Placid on Sunday and the others flying out on Monday morning.

I need my wonder woman underoos

2009-02-20T22:53:00.013-05:00

This is me as a superhero, courtesy of renee. Real Superhero powers would have been extremely appreciated today. Helping to fight the evil of painful human emotions like LOSS and GRIEF would have been easier had I not been human myself. And had it not added salt to my own loss and grief wound. However, in the difficulties of the day I was presented with the gift of being front and center to something really special; the wonders of "letting go and letting god" take care of business. I witnessed him working in what appears to be a mysterious way but giving proof that there are no coincidences. People really are put in the right place at the right time for us. I am humbled and grateful to be reminded of this so blatently from time to time. There was a whole team activated today...not just the wondertwins.

Push Play:

my clif bar was recalled

2009-02-18T22:32:00.003-05:00

I ate a crunchy peanut butter clif bar at the top of black mountain on Sunday. This was a bar that had been in my pack since at least January 1st and I failed to give it ANY thought before I inhaled it to fuel myself for the rest of the hike. Because it was OLDER, even when I realized I had eaten a PB bar, I figured it was fine and I would be fine. BUT, tonight I sat down and clicked on the food politics site to see if there was any news on the Peanut Corp. and low and behold saw that the very bar I ate was on the recalled list. WITHIN the date range of voluntarily recalled product. The hypochondriac reaction was to instantly feel ill. The incubation period is up to 72 hours (which was 4:00pm today). Of course I read all of the extraordinary issues one can have in addition to regular intestinal difficulties. Now I am wondering if there is salmonella hiding in my intestine, NOT making me ill but managing to pass to my bloodstream where it will cause nervous system infection. Why doesn't it comfort me to know that the recalled product tested by the Clif bar company has not tested positive for the bacteria? I need some antibiotics.... or some xanax....

paying peanuts for criminal acts

2009-02-17T20:27:00.004-05:00

I am drawn to news stories that highlight the workings of the criminal justice system and especially to the stories that show the glitches in that system. Drug dealers go to prison for years and child molesters usually get months in local jails. Tonight as I was perusing the net, I read one local story about an online up and coming pedophile who was caught by one of our county's investigators BEFORE he committed an act that would have involved a 14 year old if the perpetrator had been successful in his planned hookup. It happened to be a federal crime and the bozo will now serve 233 months in a federal prison with post release supervision (parole) for the rest of his life. Because he never physically met his prey, his defense lawyer was quoted as saying something very defense lawyer-esque (read asinine) like we can't treat these guys like murderers. I don't think child predators are the population with which we want to start minimizing the need for severe punishments. They should be treated as potential murders. Speaking of Murder, who would have thought that the elderly people who survived cancer or the Korean war would be killed by eating peanut butter. Harsher penalties are needed for food companies that knowingly and recklessly send out salmonella tainted ANYTHING....Turns out CEO Parnell IS a MURDERER and now the American Peanut Corporation has filed bankruptcy and shut down to avoid having to pay wrongful death suits and class action lawsuits. Most alarming is that the charge against the corporation currently rises to the misdemeanor level. My point- We don't need to lessen penalties for sickos whose intent is to molest children and if sending out a product that has the potential to kill people who consume it can be disposed of as a misdemeanor we seriously need to look at the enforcement of Food and Drug Administration regulations. Federal Jail time and life on parole is fitting for both of these unconscionable people. I think our food source depends on it.

Pesto Pizza Night

2009-02-16T22:00:00.003-05:00

An update on my intention of eating less meat. I had a meat eating relapse on Super Bowl Sunday when before I knew it I had popped a dough wrapped cocktail frank smothered with mustard in my mouth. As if that wasn't enough, I said what the heck and ate some pepperoni with my cheese and crackers. Really going all out, I could not stop myself from eating one cocktail frank wrapped in bacon. Luckily, one was too many but 3 cocktail franks were ENOUGH. In the 15 days since superbowl, I have had bacon twice and each time it was bacon bits. Other than my weakness for bacon, I have not touched another piece of meat. I am eating the foods that I REALLY like and varying what I eat quite nicely. Tonight we were having homemade pizza and I decided that I would make a personal size pizza for myself using pesto, monteray jack cheese, sudried tomatos, black olives and artichokes. I sprinkled some garlic powder and cayenne pepper on the top. For the crust I used a box of Jiffy Pizza Crust mix. We usually use fresh wheat dough from the market, but the mix was good. The included picture is actually NOT my pizza, but was the closest representation I could find. (sister took camera home and my other one doesn't communicate with my computer) My pizza actually looked better than this one, but you get the idea. I have one quarter of it left which I will eat for lunch (or breakfast) tomorrow. In addition to being a good pizza, it will make an awesome appetizer for a party. My meat eating prevention plan is going to have to involve bringing this to the next function. Maybe I won't be as apt to recklessly grab mini hot dogs. OF ALL meat, hot dogs are definitely a top priority to stay away from!

black mountain again

2009-02-15T20:43:00.006-05:00

My father was fresh off of a somewhat failed attempt at a solo snowshoe to Wilcox Lake from the Northville trailhead last weekend. With the warm weather the crust had given way and he was post holing even with snowshoes on. There hadn't been anyone in there and there was no trail broken so he turned around at about halfway to where he was aiming for. So, he was raring to go today, but we sat and drank our usual coffee and ate donuts with the family until about 12:30 this afternoon. We were trying to interest my mother in coming with us. With such a beautiful day brewing I had wanted to take her to Deer Leap, which is on the Tongue Mountain range overlooking Lake George. It is a gentle up and down and quite short in length. However, my aunt and her grandaughter have just purchased snowshoes, so my mother volunteered to watch Reagan and take them all for a spin around the field behind our house. We all took off to get ready, and it was then that I thought I would suggest Black Mountain to my father. Another fire tower mountain for our unofficial fire tower challenge. Although I have climbed Black Mountain two other times, my father had not been with me either time, so this was perfect. My Husband and Golden Retriever actually did Black with me back in September 2007 and my mother, son and cousin had climbed it with me in June of 2008. Both of those times we did the pond loop, but getting such a late *2:00pm* start at the trailhead, I figured it would be best to go straight up to the summit and back. We started with our snowshoes on but the trail was firmly packed thanks to the snowmobiles that are allowed on portions of the trail. When we reached the junction to either take the trail to the summit or to the ponds, we removed the snowshoes and ditched them behind a log, taking the chance that barebooting would be quicker. Except for a few very icy spots this worked to our advantage. Where the ice was very thick and not manageable we stepped to the side of the trail and only post holed a handful of times. We made it to the summit by 3:45. It was very picturesque. Lake George is frozen which adds a quietness to the view (no boats humming around down there) and the day was clear enough to see several of the high peaks off in the northern distance. There was no wind whatsoever when we were first standing at the top and at the observer's cabin spot just below the summit. Very peaceful. There is a new windmill at the top. This too was still for about 10 minutes. I comfortably enjoyed my cliff bar, although as I just wrote that I realized it was a peanut butter one (not good!) Just as we were about to start descending, the wind picked up and the windmill began to turn. Even with a slight wind this made alot of noise and it was easy to imagine that it must generate quite a bit of power.

I hope our President does get people back to work by having wind turbines built. It did not take away from any part of being on the mountain. It actually felt more natural and sensible. We started down at 4:00pm with a little concern for the slippery conditions, but it turned out that only one of us had to give in and perform a tuck and roll to avoid a bigger type of slip and slide and possible injury. And it wasn't me. I did have a chuckle over this sight since he wasn't hurt and he too was laughing. I am just glad it wasn't me with my sister's camera. We made it to the car by 5:10. Round trip distance was 3.6 miles and the time was just over 3 hours. We didnt see any deer tracks, just a set of very large turkey tracks. The only motorized vehicle we ran into despite the packed down trail was a golf cart looking thing with a track rather than wheels. We noticed that adirondack artist Lynn Benevento had signed in to do the loop. When she signed out she left us a message in the registry. Maybe she will paint the view we saw today? This hike was pretty strenuous since 1.) I am not doing enough to keep myself in hiking shape, 2.) the straight trail to the summit is a steeper ascent and 3.) leaving so late made it so we needed to keep a quick pace to make it back to the car before sunset. It was a great time though and we were definitely due for an outing. We got coffee on the way out of Whitehall. When I arrived home, I got busy and made a quick vegetable soup for myself with chick peas, black beans, orzo, lots of veggies and turmeric, paprika and sage. Mmmm.

good eats for hudson

2009-02-14T22:49:00.005-05:00

Hudson began eating this food at his first home. The breeder said we could change it if we wanted to, but the change should occur very slowly as Yorkies have sensitive (tiny) bellies. As soon as we got home, I looked up this food on the internet and saw that it sells for about $2 per pound, meaning the big 15 pound bag that they sell it in would cost us $30. This is apparently the going rate for Biologically Appropriate Real food Kibble

For the past 9 months I have been trying to buy the one bag of purina beneful dogfood that does not contain any animal by-product which is just a nice way of saying that it doesnt contain any ground up chicken bones, beaks, feathers, feet and whatever else constitutes a "by-product". In addition to the by-product, most dog foods contain mostly cornmeal and wheat gluten which many dogs are bothered by. Shadow has sensitive skin and I have often wondered and I think the vet may have suggested, that the corn ingrediants could be to blame for the itchy, dry skin. Another point worth considering is that the cheaper the food, the less nutrition which ends in more waste product. Taking into consideration all of that information, the ingrediants of the Orijen puppy food reads like a gourmet recipe. It is made without grain and is low in carbs which means the carbs in the food come from veggies and fruits. This stuff is packed full of minerals and vitamins from natural sources and is high in omega 3 fatty acids, which often people give as a supplement to the dogfood anyway. I know that we often cook shadow an egg with the hopes that it will help his skin and coat. So, factoring in all of the above, I believe we will stick to the Orijen puppy food. Our little guy will take a LONG time to eat 15 pounds of dogfood compared to Shadow. And we may just mix in a little of the good stuff for Shadow. Right now he is cleaning up the tablespoon or so left in Hudson's dish like it was a little treat left over for him. Shadow deserves any kind of treat he wants, he has welcomed Hudson into his home and allowed his family to become Hudson's family. What a good guy. We are successfully a two dog family and just as you tend to be more relaxed with a second child- we seem to be old hats at this puppy thing.

I Feel Lucky Today....

2009-02-13T20:40:00.006-05:00

Wednesday the 11th is the new Friday the 13th. That was the day that my lunch break ended in a break down. Pay close attention to the Wednesday fiasco part of the link.

It's all good though...after reading a few other blogger's posts about the superstition of the 13th, I pondered what happened in my day that could be related to unlucky-ness......NOPE, NOTHING. As a result of working some OT last night, I was able to get out of work at 2:00pm today. Although- after working through my lunch I felt ENTITLED to leave at ten minutes of 2:00pm. Ask my husband, I never seem to get out on time when my plan involves taking personal/comp time. I am usually on the losing end of about 10-15 minutes. But today, I was picking my 8th grader up from school on a rare occasion that he had no after school activity or practice. The normally late, speeding to get everywhere, crazy person that I am actually pulled up in front of the school with 5 minutes to spare. Should I mention that after the overtime that I worked, I was in the supermarket at 1:00am buying fruit and valentine cards for my daughter's party today? Anyway getting to the school early allowed me to sit quietly and catch a glimpse of my TALL, getting wicked old and incredibly cute, maturing son in the sideview mirror as he strolled down the sidewalk to the car. He was in a good mood instead of in a mood, said hello and began to converse about his day and his plans for the evening. For a brief moment all was perfect. I told him later how excited I was to be the one to pick him up today.....he said "yeah mom, don't start crying over it". Ahhh. Teenagers. I can't live with him and I definitely can't live without him. That was my LUCKY DAY.

*Happy Valentine's Day*...the more probable reason Greg was in a good mood. He gave his girlfriend a pink carnation today. She gave him two. <3

happy dogs, happy girl

2009-02-07T20:39:00.005-05:00

Friends

Kisses

Playing

Hudson

waiting for hudson

2009-02-05T21:37:00.003-05:00

We are picking up our little munchkin Saturday. Until then, when we will have a full blown photo shoot...these will have to do.

He's so tiny....it's like we are getting a kitten, only greg won't be allergic to him.

Meet "Hudson"

2009-02-01T23:13:00.008-05:00

The little guy at the top left corner of this picture is our new puppy. He will be joining us in our home on Saturday. He weighs 8 ounces and is 7 weeks old. He is a Yorkshire terrier. My daughter is beside herself with joy. She has visited the home of the family who breeds these little munchkins through at least 4 litters and has dreamed of having one of her own for about 3 years. It has always been a joke for the people to tease Reagan and us when another litter is due. The thing is I made it known that I would never ever pay their asking price for a dog. Reagan understood this and was always very realistic about her heart's desire. Well, with the economy, the human puppy mother made Reagan an offer she (we) could not resist and is charging us 1/3 of her normal asking price AND encouraged us to take the absolute cutest male they had. I am so excited for Reagan, she very much deserves to have this little guy. she spends A LOT of time watching her brother play baseball and traveling to do so. I am sure little Hudson will provide her with spectacular companionship and diversion from the hours of baseball she will take in over the next four years. Reagan agreed from the git go with naming the dog after one of the Adirondack high peaks. After making a list of possible Peak names, we had first agreed on Carson, but at some point in the negotiations Greg and I remembered a dog we had met on the trails one day named Hudson. Both of the kids liked it and agreed on it (only by divine intervention). So, this is still a relation to the Adirondack park, in that lake tear of the clouds, at the base of Mt. Marcy, is the highest pond source of the Hudson River and therefore, it is the river's beginning point. Greg, my Dad and I visited lake tear on our first backpacking trip. So, Hudson it is. Many more pictures to follow. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, coming off of Shadow's recent surgery and that emotional mess, I am not sure what has gotten into me. It was definitely love at first sight. Dan is excited too, he has wanted a second dog for a couple of years.

Funny Friday

2009-01-29T23:01:00.003-05:00

I copied this while blogsurfing...

Get your own Family Sticker Maker & MySpace Layouts.

This is a partially accurate depiction of our family....However, Greg really is taller than me in real life. I think Shadow is being cut out on accident. Reagan is way cuter in real life. I don't like my outfit and although Dan is a fireman, he is an assistant chief and I don't think he has suited up to actually fight a fire in a long time. but hey...Happy Friday.

Coyote Den

2009-01-27T19:40:00.002-05:00

Behind our house on the power pole line there is a coyote den. My father knew that the Den existed because he has seen a coyote sitting on top of it during hunting season. He was reminded of it by the kids because they followed coyote tracks all through the woods with me one day. The little guy's tracks (I am hoping he is little) would have led us right to his front door but we turned off the trail to head back home before that happened. Phew! So, on a separate trip with just my mother and father, we set out to find the opening to the den and look at it closeup.

The round indentation at the bottom of this picture shows another snowed in opening. If you look closely, you can see tracks leading to where my father is standing, which is basically right at the opening of the den. This a closup of the den entrance. As you can tell, it gets pretty narrow and takes a jog, making it difficult to see INTO the den. I was pretty nervous getting this close even though I know they are afraid of people. I was concerned about becoming a candidate for America's Funniest Home Videos, should a coyote pop out and scare the begeezus out of me. I snapped the picture quick and got the heck out of there. My mother played it safe and waited for us about 150 feet away. She wasn't sure the 6 hiking poles between us would be enough to fend off the whole pack if it came to that.

This picture shows the tracks coming out of the woods. This was a snowy day. On clear days the tracks are much more numerous. I wonder which dog has to go out and do the hunting on stormy days.....

URINE Good Hands...

2009-01-24T21:00:00.011-05:00

If you told the naive college freshman majoring in criminal justice back in 1990 that she would be having regular contact with heroin addicts....I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT WAS CRAZY. My first thought after I was told it was no joke..would be....what the hell am I going to do with them. How am I going to stay one step ahead of these masterful~ addictive thinking~ manipulators. ME? asking to see arms to check for "tracks", me conducting observed drug tests, SEARCHING people for synthetic urine. ME talking about sponsors, higher powers, steps, giving back, getting people into rehabs and methadone clinics. AND finding reward in all of this. This is tough stuff. Just as the addict needs support, so do the service brokers and providers. I am lucky to be able to unwind from an eventful day in the trenches of addiction with some understanding friends and positive activities. My very first post about climbing the high peaks talked about finding solace in hiking at a time when I most needed it. Proof that we are lead by the "higher power" to what we NEED, not necessarily what we WANT. As it turns out, I am rewarded and humbled by the work I do with drug and alcohol addicted people. In some cases, it is apparent that their path was meant to cross with mine. Especially when the stuff I am saying seems to be coming from somewhere other than myself. I am not suggesting that I am transcendental, or psychic or anything of the sort, but often, the information I am trying to impart seems to come from a foreign place in my brain....giving new meaning to pulling something out of thin air. For most, the acknowledgement that the person is getting what they need (often in the form of a consequence) won't be realized until much later. At the end of the day, I can live with the satisfaction of that. Sense of humor works too. On Friday our director was contemplating a move to California where he would wax boats all day and I had almost convinced myself that my previous job of seating elderly people for dinner had actually been my calling.

cute

2009-01-22T23:03:00.004-05:00

My Son has his own little cheering section at his basketball games.

His team is now 8-0. At the end of tonight's game I asked his coach to check in with his English and Science teachers to make sure all his work is handed in so that there are no surprises in a couple weeks when report cards come out. Of course, my son was mortified that I did this but the "bad mother" did not apologize as it seems to have rekindled some urgency where his school work is concerned. Recently, his attention has been mostly focused on the pretty girl holding the sign. His coach said "I'll find out about English and Science tomorrow, but it definitely looks like he's got a 100% in Cupid".

Especially Poignant Remark

2009-01-21T22:17:00.004-05:00

Rev. Warren said during his opening prayer, "we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven". That sums up the entire day for me. What a miraculous event....... the Inauguration of our 44th President.

Click here for the "out of the mouths of babes" opinion of President Obama's journey.....

Brave Bees

2009-01-19T20:48:00.007-05:00

While we had our snowshoes on yesterday we trekked over to the part of the field where the beehive sits. Even in these -22 degree temperatures, the bees generate enough heat inside the hive to stay warm and alive. The snow had accumulated in front of the "door" at the bottom of the hive and that needed to be cleaned away. You see if it happens to get warm enough, they will want to leave the hive for a bit to go to the bathroom, but they can hold it the whole winter if they have to. Unfortunately, a little bit of banging on the hive caused two of the "guard" bees to come out and have a look at what was going on. These little protectors probably ended up sacrificing themselves at our expense, unless there were paramedic bees that came down to provide medical attention to them?

Strange how working in cooperation with these bees actually makes you sad to see two of them die. I am going to suggest to the grandfather who knows everything that he should put some R-19 insulation around the hive. Or maybe there is a reason why he didn't already.

Of course, there is a bit of selfishness in hoping these guys stay happy and healthy all winter; a double batch of their glorious golden honey.

"follow grampa, he knows everything"

2009-01-19T01:35:00.005-05:00

my nephew's advice to reagan during our sunday afternoon snowshoe

This confirms that our father is to our kids what our grandfather was to us.........

Thanks Dad

Game Night and Asparagus

2009-01-17T22:07:00.004-05:00

this recipe has been requested from a die hard reader in Waldorf, Maryland....

Also, I am itching to post about our "game night" at Mark and Jennifer's house. I, however, was not the one with the camera and I was not the host. Therefore, I will wait and see what the other's come up with. It was a lot of fun.

OK.....Some observations.

Dan cannot go to anymore game nights if he is to follow his eating plan....people, places and things goes for everyone. I ate a pork empanada...see no will power.
the two year old and the 18 month old played the nicest of all of the kids..On the other hand, reagan did decide that rather than fight with her 6 year old cousin over who was going to be the waiter while playing restaurant, she would probably make out better playing the owner. Not surprising.
gramma can beat the pants off anyone is scrabble but you really don't want her on your Taboo team. Although we did laugh the hardest when it was her turn.
Apples to Apples is a game that all ages can enjoy.
Another game night is definitely in order, especially if we are going to keep having extreme cold. 10 degrees on the digital thermometer tonight.

New Tradition....*first annual* Saturday of Martin Luther King Jr. three day weekend GAME NIGHT............Thanks Guys~

meatless for the majority

2009-01-15T19:27:00.010-05:00

I wish it didn't take posts like this to totally gross me out in order to make me stop eating meat. This happened to me about 6 months ago when I became more informed about the slaughter practices and the inhumane captivity of animals. That time, I went 11 days in a row without meat. I love BLT's too much to go totally vegetarian and sometimes it is just easier to eat meat, especially when you have a whole family to feed. Meanwhile, I can't tell you the last time I ate a hamburger which was a direct result of my son getting sick from ecoli at the Washington County fair (which had nothing to do with hamburger but hey my thought process runs wild). From that point, I began ordering fast food meals with NO MEAT for my kids. I currently consume red meat an average of once a month and eat white meat less than 3 nights a week. Since I know I am not capable of complete vegetarianism, I am proposing a 3rd alternative to being vegetarian or vegan. I am calling it majority meatless. (Maybe something similar already exists and quite possibly it is labeled non committed slacker?)

Regardless, this week, in another concerted effort to lay off of meat I bought Tempeh. Last night I made my standby tempeh recipe which is a tempeh reuben. I cubed the other half of the package and soaked it in a marinade overnight and for dinner this evening I sauteed it with peas, added angel hair pasta and topped it with peanut sauce. Wow, was it rich and extremely tasty. Greg watched me eat it and shook his head in disbelief that it could actually taste great. I did get him to try a bite that did not contain the tempeh which he said was "not bad". He's the other one in the family that already eats "majority meatless". I will have to stay on top of his conversion to tempeh eater. For myself, recipes such as this make it all the more attainable for me to eventually abstain from MEAT. I need some bacon flavored tempeh.

Tempeh Marinade

8oz of Tempeh
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 garlic clove minced

1 tablespoon water

I added 1/2 teaspoon of cumin

Peanut Sauce

1/3 cup of natural peanut butter

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon honey

1/3 cup water

while the marinated tempeh and peas were sauteing I sprinkled them with cayenne pepper and then tossed them with angel hair pasta before spooning the peanut sauce on top. A little spicy because I forgot that I added the cumin to the marinade, but overall a good first attempt. I was impressed with the ease of both marinating the tempeh and making peanut sauce from scratch.

Just another example of the rewards of trying something new. I am so enjoying this creative cooking. Reagan was again the big kitchen helper, even though she happily ate just angel hair with butter and cheese. Dan made his own pork stir fry with mrs. dash bottled marinade before he left for his union meeting. Greg ate pasta with red sauce. We might as well be running a diner.

I'll have a medium coffee?

2009-01-14T21:36:00.006-05:00

I just wanted to mention the new study that is out. Apparently researchers are trying to show that drinking large amounts of coffee has the potential to cause people to hallucinate, hear voices and smell things that aren't real. Some participants in the study reported also feeling the presence of dead people. I tried to keep track of how many cups of coffee I drank today at work, because I am clearly becoming a huge caffeine addict. Some of which I can blame on nearly freezing to death everyday in my office. Holding and drinking a warm cup of coffee is like having a space heater that works on the inside and out. I am sure that it would be best if I slowed up on the intake of coffee but if it has the potential to put me in contact with my Grandfather then hook me up to an IV.....

"testing" some new recipes

2009-01-13T21:28:00.004-05:00

Reagan has her 4th grade state english test this week. They spread the exam over 3 days. The school sent home a checklist of things that may help your child have a more positive testing experience. Reagan, being the second child in our house to go through this round of testing, basically got herself ready. Greg was so afraid of taking his 4th grade tests that he was in meltdown mode by the morning he was scheduled to take them. The only thing that calmed him was a call from one of his little friends who assured him he would do fine. It helped Greg hear that his counterpart in a different school was not worried at all. The confidence of that little boy spilled over and Greg of course did fine. Thankfully Reagan's experience has been better since the school has pulled itself out of academic jeopardy and has not been so focused on the performance of the students on this nefarious way of measuring teacher success. Anyway, Reagan packed a snack bag, filled her water bottle, dressed herself in layers, gathered #2 pencils and went to bed on time (not early, but without me nagging her). Day one went off without a hitch. Tonight, she said her teacher did not assign homework but told them all to relax and enjoy their evening. As I began cooking dinner, she said she wanted to help because "cooking relaxes me". Huh? Okay. She helped chop onions and garlic, measured out spices and stirred them as they simmered.

I was trying out an Artichoke and Chick Pea Stew recipe. She said she liked the taste of the broth but turned her nose up at the finished product. Like most kids she mostly enjoyed using a knife and stirring hot stuff. We used sweet potatos instead of white potatos and added some orzo pasta and a little asparagus that I had leftover. We topped it off with grated fontina cheese. It was great, and luckily for me no one else wanted any and I have a huge portion for my lunch tomorrow. Reagan has a kid's Better Homes and Garden Cookbook that she likes to sift through now and then, so she broke it out and picked another treat for us to make. Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese spread for apple wedges (reagan loves the apple corer we have and before I knew it had almost a whole bag of apples wedged). This was a good choice because it called for the use of the honey our own bees made. We used natural peanut butter and extra honey. It was a very tasty dessert. We played RACKO and off to bed she went. We did indeed spend some nice relaxing together time tonight. I guess those tests are good for something.

taking it easy

2009-01-11T22:42:00.005-05:00

I had a rough (read sad) appointment at the end of my workday on Friday. All I could do was throw myself into the weekend and forget about work (read- had the wisdom to know the difference of what I cannot change).

So I.....

watched 10 kids pour their heart and souls out on the basketball court as they earned their coach (my husband's baseball coach, my third grade teacher and a big time family friend) his 300th career win. We sat with old friends we don't see very often which topped off the moment.
got to watch my own son play his game
got my hair cut and highlighted (self care, literally)
played dice with my parents while listening to the Eagles on my dad's birthday. very appropriate.
celebrated my neice's birthday with extended family
took reagan and my nephew snowshoeing. we had fun following the trail of a coyote all through the sun sparkled snowy woods.
cooked a nice dinner for dan who is doing awesome on his healthy eating plan.
watched my son go off on a movie date with his new "friend". Yikes.
snowshoed my usual canoe trail hike behind my house, with my father, by headlamp. not the dilly dallying type of trip with the kids. the kind that actually burns the 600 calories an hour "they" say that snowshoeing burns.
read a little from my library books
checked in on my blogger friends. we have a newbie on board and one finished her first full marathon.

I'm recharged for the week! Bring it on......

obama likes elvis

2009-01-09T23:26:00.004-05:00

The word is out. Obama has tapped Elvis' "If I Can Dream" to play some part in the inauguration in 10 days. Quite an appropriate theme song for the optimism our (nearly) President is trying to be about. Now, interestingly my family members who you know are not big fans of Obama, are truly fanatical followers of "the king" so I have to thank our new leader for pulling out all the stops to possibly ingratiate himself to the rest of my people. If Elvis is re-entering the building on January 20th why not invite the gipper as well....

If you clicked on the fanatical followers link you will see that I didn't make it to the celebration of Elvis' 74th birthday Thursday evening. I was enjoying Enchiladas and Chile Rellenos at El Mexicano with Jen. We were overdue for dinner thanks to the holidays. Elvis will have more birthdays.

my return to the library

2009-01-07T22:01:00.007-05:00

I used to take the kids to Crandall Library all the time when they were little. The library had a neat children's play room next to the children's book section and in it was a shelf of big people (mostly parenting) books to peruse while the kids played. Normally, I would find something that interested me from that collection and then on our way out I would usually have just enough time to quickly choose a fiction novel from near the book check. Well back in 2003 I took out some books and didn't make it back to the library before owing about $23 in late fees. At one point I snuck up to the free standing drive thru book drops to return the children's books, but for some (irresponsible) reason kept the two adult books I had. This is the same reason I no longer allow myself a blockbuster video card. I am terrible about returning material. So, 6 years have passed and the Crandall Library has gone through a major renovation. I was assured by a frequent visitor of the library that the slate would be clean and I should go back and check out the new and improved, updated library. Reagan had asked about going there several times during the construction phase and since school vacation was upon us I decided it was time we made the trip. We marched up to the desk and told the lady that we once had cards but probably needed new ones. Oh no, she quickly found us in the system and delivered the bad news. I owed $23 in fees but because books were categorized as lost, I actually owed the value of the books which was $80. I had joked with my friend that I was sure there was a "wanted" poster of me hanging somewhere in the place and that I couldn't possibly go back. At that moment it was no joke. Although I am surely not the worst overdue book offender I was wishing this new state of the art building had a trap door I could fall through. I casually asked how long ago these books had been taken out and did my best impression of shock that I had "forgotten". Of course I would bring them next time as I assured the woman that they must be somewhere at home. Where, is the question. Lucky for me, Reagan has a clean card and could check some books out for me. We both came out with 4 books. Reagan read her first chapter book from start to finish in 4 nights. We have enjoyed our reading time together in the evenings. It has been a nice break from what has become my nightly routine of "reading the computer".

I chose this book.

I had learned of the Movie that preceded it months ago and it caught my eye.
I was pleasantly surprised that it not only spoke of the poor nutritional quality of fast food but went into great detail about marketing and advertising ploys and gimmicks directed at winning over children at very young ages to certain brands of fast food, junk food, and of course soda. Reminded me of when we were running the little league. We were so happy that by signing a 5 year contract with Pepsi, they donated a $5,000 electric scoreboard for the fields. This was big stuff in our small town little league which never had any type scoreboard. I quickly found out that the Pepsi Corporation does that as a PR strategy to win over our littlest members to Pepsi (over coke) as soon as they possibly could. Attracting customers early (from the cradle) is more cost effective than changing a persons preference later on. Hence, the McDonald's line of baby clothes sold at Walmart (of course they are in on it). Another point made in the book is that fast food and fast casual food joints often use school promotions to attract customers. I have been stubborn over the last few years about the Pizza Hut Book It program. My philosophy has always been that I don't need the prize of a personal pan pizza dangled in front of me to make sure that my kid reads at night. We read just to read, not to earn pizza. I was catching on that the corporation only wanted to attract a family that would spend an average of $25 dollars in their restaurant over and above the measly $3 free pizza they were handing out. Turns out that Pizza Hut along with McD's and Wendy's and Burger King could give a rats ass whether my kids read, do well in school or become fat and unhealthy. The last time we ate at McDonald's after a school basketball game, another mother marveled at my "will power" to eat only a salad (before reading the book). Believe me, if you read this book you won't ever want to eat anything but a salad at that place. Who needs will power.

Gotta go, I have 3 more books to read before their February 1st due date!

My New Adirondack Reads

2009-01-02T21:00:00.005-05:00

Today I got my first subscription of:

It's one of two awesome Christmas gifts from my in-laws. I am still waiting for the first delivery of this one:

Spruce Mountain Snowshoe

2009-01-01T21:29:00.004-05:00

We did the house party scene for New Year's Eve. Each year someone in our small circle of friends hosts a gathering that is kid friendly (hopefully the hosting family has a basement). Dan of course had to work this morning so we actually left the party at about 11pm. The party was pretty subdued yet I did partake in the ceremonial shot out of one guy's glasses that are shaped like a .12 gauge shotgun shell. I was in bed by 11:30 and totally missed the ball dropping. I have to say that I didn't miss having to go around the room kissing everyone at the stroke of midnight. That kinda creeps me out, depending on who the attendees are of course. I don't mind the normal group of friends but depending on who hosts there are straggler invitees that I don't want to have to obviously skip! Anyway, my point is that I was kinda glad to get home and get to sleep in anticipation of the first snowshoe of the new year. I knew my father really wanted to go and without his prompting I would have missed starting the year doing something amazingly awesome; snowshoeing under a bright blue (almost purple, I know crayola has a color that is close) sky, surrounded by fresh powdery snow so glittery in the sun that the the snow sparkles seemed to be jumping and playing beneath our feet. Spruce Mountain is in south Corinth, in the most southern part of the Adirondack Park. It is a couple of turns off of the main road, route 9N going out of Corinth toward Saratoga. At the dead end of Spruce Mountain Road (a right off of Wells Road) there is no parking lot, just parking on the road. You see a gate which is signed for a snowmobile club and beyond the turn around for the snowplow is the foot trail that allows you to climb the mountain far from where the snowmobiles are allowed. We only actually saw two snowmachines and that was because we chose to return via their "road". The foot trail is a gradual climb through nice forest, steeper toward the end. At one point you are cautioned that private property lies between the trailhead DEC sign in and the destination. After crossing the posted property (everyone else appeared to have done so) signs told us we were on Saratoga Plan Land. Then, back on posted land before making it to the summit. Apparently there is a big issue going on about the ownership of the land and it may be transferring to state land in the near future. At the sign in, DEC has made a special request for people to be sure to sign in to show the powers that be that this little mountain is actually being used and appreciated by hikers. The mountain has a Fire Tower that is in very bad condition. The bottom stairs have been removed to prevent people from climbing the tower. A committee has been formed to try to save it and possibly restore it. Until that occurs, this is a fire tower summit that doesn't offer any sort of real view. We ventured a bit to the north of the tower and found a spot that allowed us to look North and we did see a pretty snow covered mountain view. Beyond the tower is a building owned by National Grid and a communication tower bearing all kinds of satellites. All in all, this was not the BEST mountain for asthetic value- I prefer not to see power lines where I am hiking, my new cell phone didn't even work directly in front of all this communications stuff but the beautiful day and the chance to be out in nature as a kick off to the new year was worth a million. Also noteworthy were the six or so deer we saw as we pulled up to park. The deer are all over this mountain. I thought it was cute that they use the foot path as a means of getting around. I felt like I was helping them out a bit by further crunching down a path for them. I followed deer prints all the way up. There were really matted down runways going between the foot trail and the snowmobile trail. We also saw coyote tracks and a lot of rabbit tracks. Even in the 20 degree air I was warm and toasty thanks to the effort it took to climb. I was feeling a little out of shape as this was a bit more strenuous than Goodnow Mt. We couldn't help but throw ideas around for the upcoming hiking season; figuring on what combination of day hikes and backpacking trips we will shoot for this year. I like that kind of New Year's Resolution. Forget the old boring standby of losing weight. The 17 high peaks we plan to bag by October of 2009 is a challenge I will work faithfully at and enjoy every minute of doing it. Umm..I guess that is not a resolution (which means you will resolve something or change something...most likely a lifestyle change) so I am happy that I am not still at the point where I am making a resolution to hike MORE. This is a continuation of the change I have already made and maintained. A real resolution would be that I would like to live more "green" (thanks to hiking in nature), I could do more on the preserve and protect idea. While I'm at this contemplative stage of change...I really need to be better at checking the kids homework at night. That's a resolution that brings you back down to earth...Ugh. I'll let you know how that one goes. Happy New Year all....

I'm going cellular

2008-12-27T14:02:00.006-05:00

My friend Sheri has been threatening to buy me a cell phone for the last couple of years. She has been irritated that when I am not home, I am not accessible. She is never home either, which is why we usually talk via her cell phone while she is commuting all over NYC. She took the bull by the horns and purchased me the above phone complete with 2 year contract so that she will be able to reach me whenever, wherever. I have just become part of the verizon network, people. She stipulated some rules. #1- that I stay within the 450 minutes per month. #2- that I am the only, ONLY! one to use it, it is my personal cell phone. This should not be hard to follow as I am the last one in my family to own one. The kids already each have a trac phone and Dan has his nextel. (Thank God she did not get me a nextel, I hate them with a passion). Rule #3 after 2 years I will take over the contract. By then I will probably be just as addicted as the rest of the planet is to having a cell phone and will by all means extend the contract myself. I thank her very much from the bottom of my heart as I know this was an expensive gift and she surely did not have to do this for me. I am glad however that we will be able to connect in an instant now. Thanks for bringing me current BFF.

I have a few cell phone rules for myself, that my peeps will have to understand. (Not that I have that many peeps) Here goes:

#1- I vow to not be one of those grocery shoppers who talk incessantly in every aisle into their phone oblivious to everyone else who can no longer think about what they need because of the rudeness.

#2- I will not be interrupted at my children's sporting events as I have been forever disgusted with the mother sitting next to me who talks and talks and talks to a friend about nothing while her son is up to bat. If I tell you I am at greg's game, that is not the green light to think I am bored and am happy you called to relieve me of said boredom. The only reason I will use the phone at a game is to update anyone who is not at the game who is calling for the score.

#3- If I am ever out with the girls I will not be answering my phone. The only reason someone from my immediate family should call and interrupt my girls nights out is if someone is en route to the hospital via ambulance. I am not kidding. This is my time and I know if this is not stated someone will abuse my phone privileges.

#4-I may make phone calls from the summit of a few mountains to curtail any worrying though I have been annoyed by others talking on cell phones at that time. I will be sure to preserve the tranquility of the moment for any other hikers who may be present.

*subject to change at any further annoyance with my new capability of being "connected".

of course the reindeer are female

2008-12-24T16:48:00.003-05:00

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year (the only members of the deer family, Cervidae, to have females do so), male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolf to Blitzen ... had to be a female.

We should have known this.... Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night, and not get lost.

Merry Christmas to all of my blogger friends.

a chip off of......his aunt?

2008-12-24T00:29:00.003-05:00

We got through Reagan's Nutcracker Recital
with 2 successful performances. Proof that the show really must go on no matter what, was Sunday's performance that took place minus about 10 dancers during the huge storm that passed through.

On to the next winter activity. Basketball games have already started. This is where I will be for the next few weeks. Back in the basketball bleachers where my family has spent some of its best times together watching my sister play high school and college ball. Time flies. 13 years ago the big guy wearing number 44 slept in my arms many a night in the Adirondack Community College gym.